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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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Journals 
and  Journahsm: 

With  a  Guide  for   Literary    Beginners. 

BY 

JOHN    OLDCASTLE. 
1880. 


Second  Edition.     Price  Three  Shillings  and  Sixpence. 


London  : 
Field  ^  Tuer,  y"  Leadenhalle  Preffe,  E.G. 


FIELD  S^  TUER 
YE   LEADENHALLE    PRESSE,    E.C. 
T2,S82 


Co  Mk  lenrp  Caglor,  as.C.iH.*©., 

Author  of  Philip  Van  Artevelde. 

Hearing  you  speak  of  the  literature  and  the  literary  men  of  the 
last  generation — of  Wordsworth  whom  you  were  one  of  the  earliest  to 
recognize,  of  Southey  whom  you  loved,  of  Walter  Savage  Landor, 
and  of  many  more,  I  have  asked  myself  whether,  rising  up  among  us 
now,  there  are  those  who  can  fill  their  vacant  place ;  and  I  have  feared 
that  the  literature  of  to-day  may  seem  to  you  less  noble  and  less  sound 
than  that  of  a  half-century  ago.  Journalism,  a  fleeting  and  sometimes 
flippant  phase  of  letters,  has  developed  since  then  with  a  speed  which 
almost  justifies  Lamartine's  prediction  that  our  literature  will  soon 
consist  of  the  daily  newspaper  alone.  And  therefore  it  is  that  I 
venture,  in  a  volume  compiled  for  the  use  of  literary  beginners,  to 
invoke  a  name  which  will  remind  them  of  the  dignity  and  duty  of 
their  mission. 


91S785 


Preface, 


JOURNALISM,  while  it  affords  scope  for  the 
most  brilliant  and  practised  powers,  is  also  the 
legitimate  sphere  for  the  literary  beginner.  His 
capacity  is  there  put  to  the  test  by  a  process  which, 
unlike  that  of  publishing  a  book,  costs  him  nothing 
in  case  of  failure ;  while  the  acceptance  of  his  con- 
tributions is  an  earnest  of  his  future  success.  Nearly 
all  our  great  writers,  whether  journalists  or  not, 
began  by  contributing  timorously  and  obscurely  to 
the  newspaper  and  periodical  press  ;  and  that  there 
are  thousands  of  aspirants  to-day  eager  to  follow  in 


their  footsteps  and  to  take  a  place  in  the  Repubhc  of 
Letters,  if  they  only  knew  how  and  where  to  make 
a  start,  is  the  conviction  which  has  led  to  the  com- 
pilation of  this  little  book.  Nor  is  it  published 
without  a  hope  that  among  their  number  may  be 
found  in  embryo  the  George  Salas,  the  Tom  Taylors, 
the  Edmund  Yates, — perhaps  even  the  Macaulays 
and  the  George  Eliots  of  the  future. 

A  first  edition  of  one  thousand  copies  having 
been  exhausted  in  two  months,  the  author  has,  in 
this  second  issue,  taken  advantage  of  many  useful 
hints  offered  by  critics,  and  has  corrected  down  to 
date  the  dictionary  of  the  periodical  press. 


Contents, 


PREFACE 
LITERARY   AMATEURS 

INTRODUCTIONS   TO   EDITORS 
HOW   TO    BEGIN 

"  DECLINED   WITH   THANKS  " 

POUNDS,    SHILLINGS,    AND   PENCE 

JOURNALISM   AS    A   CAREER 

1.  THE    FAIR    SIDE 

2,  THE   SEAMY    SIDE 
IN   AN   editor's   chair 
A   MISCELLANEOUS    CHAPTER 
LITERARY   COPYRIGHT 

TEN    COMMANDMENTS  :    WITH    REASONS   AND    REMARKS  - 
THE   amateur's   DIRECTORY:     BEING   A    LIST    OF    JOURNALS 

AND     MAGAZINES,     WITH      SOME     ACCOUNT     OF     THEIR 
HISTORY,   AN    INDICATION    OF    THEIR    SCOPE,    AND    THE 
ADDRESS   OF   THEIR   OFFICES 
HOW   TO   CORRECT   PROOFS      ... 


PAGE 

iii 

9 

13 

19 

27 

37 

53 
66 

73 
87 
97 

lOI 


106 
142 


"  If  a  man  can  command  a  table,  a  chair,  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  he  can 
commence  his  trade  as  a  literary  man.  It  requires  no  capital,  no  special 
education,  and  may  be  taken  up  without  a  moment's  delay." — Anthony 
Trollope. 

"When  my  first  effusion — dropped  stealthily  one  evening  at  twilight,  with 
fear  and  trembling,  in  a  dark  letter-box,  in  a  dark  office  up  a  dark  court  in 
Fleet  Street — appeared  in  the  glory  of  print,  I  walked  down  to  Westminster 
Hall,  and  turned  into  it  for  half-an-hour,  because  my  eyes  were  so  dimmed 
with  joy  and  pride  that  they  could  not  bear  the  street,  and  were  not  fit  to  be 
seen  there."— CAar&i  Dickens. 


JOURNALS  AND  JOURNALISM. 


LITERARY  AMATEURS. 

MATEURITY  generally  means  immaturity. 
In  literature  it  is  a  want  of  that  ease,  that 
self-possession  of  style,  and  that  conformity 
to  custom  which  can  hardly  exist  without 
practice,  and  for  the  absence  of  which  even 
freshness  or  impulse  of  manner  makes  poor 
amends.  A  literary  aspirant,  therefore,  in 
forwarding  his  tentative  contributions, 
should  never  apologetically  explain  that  he  is  an  amateur,  for  by  so 
doing  he  will  hardly  fail  to  prejudice  editors  against  his  MSS. 
Let  him  beware  also  of  the  little  dilettante  habits  which,  though 
they  seem  to  him  attractive  refinements,  only  raise  a  smile  in 
Fleet-street.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  good  note-paper  bearing  a 
crest  in  the  corner,  commonly  implying  an  expenditure  impossible 
to  the  man  who  writes  well  enough  to  write  for  his  bread.     The 

A    2 


lo  "Journals  and  Journalism. 

professional  journalist  "  slings  ink  "  on  whatever  odds  and  ends  of 
paper  come  in  his  way  ;  and  the  amateur  would  do  well  to  show 
the  same  wholesome  indifference  to  the  niceties  of  note-paper,  even 
following,  if  need  be,  the  example  of,  "  paper-sparing  Pope,"  who 
wrote  his  "  Iliad  "  and  "  Odyssey  "  on  the  backs  of  letters  from  his 
friends,  among  whom  were  Addison  and  Steele,  those  great  fathers 
of  literary  journalism. 

Even  more  fatally  amateurish  is  the  practice,  not  uncommon 

with  beginners,  of  addressing  a  more  or  less  gushing  note  to  an 

editor,  disclaiming  any  wish  for  remuneration,  and  intimating  that 

the  honour  of  appearing  in  his  valuable  paper  is  all  the  reward 

that  is  asked.     A  contribution  that  is  worth  printing  is  worth  paying 

for;  and  to  an  established  paper  the  trifling  sum  due  for  any 

ordinary  article  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence  whatever — a  mere 

drop  in  the  bucket  of  printing  and  editorial  expenses.    In  the  case  of 

a  new  paper,  not  backed  by  much  capital,  it  is  different.    Gratuitous 

contributions  may  there  be  welcome  ;  but  such  a  paper  will  hardly 

live  ;  nor,  if  it  did,  would  there  be  much  prestige  attached  to  an 

appearance  in  its  pages.  Besides,  the  offer  of  unremunerated  labour 

to  an  experienced  editor  will  often,  and  legitimately,  be  resented. 

He  feels  that  an  attempt  is  being  made  to  bribe  him,  and,  however 

absurd  the  bribe,  the  idea  is  not  pleasant.     There  is,  in  a  word, 

only  one  fair  and  sufficient  test  of  capacity  in  literature  as  in  the 

other  arts,  and  that  is  the  test  of  competition  in  the  open  market. 


Literary  Amateurs.  1 1 

Our  old  friends,  supply  and  demand,  expressed  by  sale  and 
purchase,  are  the  only  trustworthy  umpires  in  the  matter,  after  all. 

As  to  the  style  of  amateurs,  though  we  have  just  spoken  of 
freshness  as  their  possible  characteristic,  the  curious  fact  is  that, 
contrary  to  natural  expectation,  they  generally  Avrite  more  conven- 
tionally than  the  hacks  of  journaUsm.  The  amateur  sets  himself 
too  energetically  to  keep  the  trodden  ways  ;  he  is  too  timid  to 
allow  any  originality  which  he  may  possess  to  assert  itself;  and 
it  is  only  when  he  is  familiar  with  the  necessary  laws  that  he  gives 
himself  a  desirable  ease  and  liberty  in  non-essentials.  The  same 
rule  holds  good  with  the  literary  novice  as  with  the  amateur  actors, 
who,  while  they  break  the  law  which  directs  them  to  face  their 
audience,  are  more  stagy  in  deUvery  than  the  third-rate  ranter 
of  twenty  years'  experience. 

Finally,  let  amateurs  beware  of  "  amateur  magazines,"  and  of 
agencies  for  the  profitable  placing  of  literary  work.  These  are  gene- 
rally bubbles — bubbles  that  will  burst  as  soon  as  they  are  pricked 
with  a  silver  or  a  golden  pin.  Some  years  ago  an  action  was 
brought  by  one  of  these  amateur  associations  against  another ; 
and  a  number  of  dreadful  young  men  of  nineteen,  with  long 
hair,  and  spectacles,  appeared  in  court  as  plaintiffs  and  defen- 
dants. No  doubt  the  original  promoters  of  such  an  organization 
traded  to  good  purpose  on  the  credulity  and  ambition  of  the 
provincial  and  the  young,  beginning  with  a  profession  of  philan- 


12  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

thropy,  and  ending  with  a  request  for  a  subscription.  They 
soon  had  their  imitators,  however ;  the  monopoly  was  broken, 
the  spoils  divided;  and  what  with  the  exposure  resulting  from 
their  internal  dissensions,  and  the  bitter  individual  experience 
of  the  thousands  who  lent  willing  ears  and  purses  to  their  allure- 
ments, we  may  hope  that  their  occupation  is  now  gone. 


INTRODUCTIONS  TO  EDITORS. 


HERE  is  an  impression  universally  prevalent 
among  beginners  that  to  be  introduced 
personally  or  by  letter  to  an  editor  is  one  of 
the  essentials  of  a  literary  debut^  albeit  the 
only  introduction  which  really  avails  is 
good  and  marketable  work.  It  is  difficult 
to  convince  them  of  the  fact  that  recom- 
mendation will  not  do  a  great  deal  for 
them,  or  that  they  can  possibly  receive  justice  without  it.  "  A 
good  word  from  a  trustworthy  source  will  induce  the  editors  to  read 
my  things,"  says  the  amateur  invariably ;  "  as  it  is,  I  am  certain 
they  do  not  read  them."  The  unpalatable  fact  is,  however,  that 
when  a  MS.  is  not  read,  the  reason  in  eight  cases  out  of  ten  is  that 
the  editorial  eye,  which  is  as  practised  in  gauging  at  a  glance  the 
quality  of  literary  work  as  is  the  eye  of  an  art  collector  in  deter- 
mining instantly  the  approximate  value  of  a  picture,  has  summarily 
given  a  decision  adverse  to  the  offered  contribution.  Good  things 
are  too  well  worth  having  to  be  carelessly  foregone.  Of  course 
there  are  exceptions.     Press  of  time,  press  of  matter,  or  kindred 


14  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

reasons,  may  cause  a  contribution  to  be  overlooked ;  but  in  such 
cases  a  letter  of  introduction  hardly  mends  matters.  A  familiar 
source  of  trouble  to  authors  and  professional  journalists  would  once 
for  all  be  stopped  if  beginners  would  frankly  enter  the  field  in  the 
way  of  business,  sans  phrases.  Of  course  there  are  cases  in  which 
a  word  from  a  common  acquaintance  may  be  of  use  to  an  unknown 
writer  who  sends  to  a  journal  an  article  which  might  possibly  be  a 
hoax;  for  a  note  of  introduction  is,  if  nothing  else,  a  valuable  guaran- 
tee of  good  faith.  Also  a  letter  from  one  journalist  to  a7iother^ 
vouching  for  the  tried  capacity  of  a  person  introduced,  is,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say,  very  useful  and  very  convenient ;  it  may 
save  the.  time  and  trouble  which  would  otherwise  be  spent  on 
reading  his  MSS.,  and  all  editors  are  glad  to  escape  at  once 
to  the  plain-sailing  of  print ;  for,  as  Charles  Lamb  found,  every- 
thing reads  "  raw  "  in  MS.  The  printed  copy  will  not  necessarily 
be  accepted,  of  course,  but  it  will  stand  a  better  chance  in  that 
condition.  Such  an  introduction  as  this,  however,  is  hardly 
likely  to  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  beginner  for  whose  behoof  we  are 
writing,  and  whom  we  wish  to  warn  against  counting  on  any  kind 
of  personal  favour  from  an  editor  through  common  acquaintances 
or  otherwise. 

Still  more  futile  than  suing  outsiders  for  recommendations  is 
the  somewhat  kindred  practice  of  appealing  to  the  editor  himself 
in  forma  pauperis^  and  for  personal  motives,  for  a  place  upon  his 


Introductions  to    'Editors.  15 

staff.  Charles  Dickens,  speaking  from  a  full  heart,  somewhere 
mentions  the  "profoundly  unreasonable  grounds  on  which  an 
editor  is  often  urged  to  accept  unsuitable  articles — such  as  having 
been  at  school  with  the  writer's  husband'^  brother-in-law,  or  having 
lent  an  alpenstock  in  Switzerland  to  the  writer's  wife's  nephew, 
when  that  interesting  stranger  had  broken  his  own."  Thackeray 
resigned  the  editorship  of  the  Cornhill  (his  pet  magazine,  set 
on  foot  at  a  time  when  monthlies  of  its  class  were  few)  on 
account  of  the  pain  he  endured  from  the  inevitable  necessity  of 
rejecting  appeals,  not  less  unreasonable  and  far  more  pitiful 
than  the  fantastic  pleas  caricatured  by  Dickens.  Pathetic  letters 
from  educated  young  women,  on  whose  painful  exertions  as 
teachers,  and  even  as  sempstresses,  a  paralyzed  father  or  a  brood 
of  helpless  younger  children  depended,  timid  supplications  from 
men  whose  spirit  was  broken  by  failure  in  every  direction — 
such  were  among  the  "thorns,"  as  he  called  them,  which  the 
tender-hearted  humourist  found  in  the  editorial  pillow.  Unfortun- 
ately, angelic  filial  or  sisterly  devotion  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  feeblest  literary  powers ;  nevertheless,  the  editor,  hoping 
against  hope,  was  wont  to  look  eagerly  through  the  poor  little 
paper,  in  case,  by  some  untoward  chance,  it  might  be  just  possible 
to  print  it — but  almost  always  with  the  same  negative  result.*     It 

*  Mr.  Thackeray  tells  us  thus  much,  but  he  does  not  add  that  he  frequently 
sent  out  of  his  own  pocket  a  five-pound  note  in  payment  for  the  contributions 


1 6  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

is  difficult  for  distress  to  be  very  logical,  but  it  is  also  difficult  to 
enter  into  the  state  of  mind  of  a  poor  girl  who  thinks  that  her 
MSS.  ought  to  be  printed  because  she  is  good,  self-denying,  unfor- 
tunate and  overworked,  and  not  at  all  because  they  deserve  it. 

This  sort  of  personal  appeal  is  essentially  feminine.  So  is  the 
occasional  trick  of  addressing  contributions  to  the  editor's  private 
house  instead  of  to  the  office  of  his  paper.  Few  women  are  con- 
tent to  be  numbered  in  a  class ;  they  will  not  submit  to  be 
generalized ;  they  find  some  good  reason  why  their  own  case 
is  peculiar  and  particular ;  hence  they  pursue  an  editor  to  his 
home  in  the  hope  of  getting  his  private  ear,  and  by  so  doing 
irretrievably  damage  such  chance  of  success  as  they  might  other- 
wise have.  Those  women  (and  they  are  not  a  few)  who  have 
made  a  worthy  position  in  periodical  literature,  have  done  so  by 

ridding  themselves   of   all   such 

/^      y  ^  *y  >— ■     feminine  amateurity  as  this.    Har- 

J?    .    S/^/UCA  ^^:^^^uy^^  j.jgj  Martineau,  Mrs.  Lynn  Linton, 

Mrs.    Cashel    Hoey,    these    are 


which  he  could  neither  publish  nor  conscientiously  charge  to  his  employers. 
The  kind-hearted  editor,  whose  "cynicism,"  by  the  way,  is  the  stock 
charge  against  his  character,  put  the  impracticable  MSS.  away  in  a  drawer 
devoted  to  matter  destined  for  possible  future  use,  where  they  were  of  course 
forgotten. 


■Introductions  to  Editors.  17 

names  with  which  no  such  petti- 
fogging devices  are  associated.  ^:^^^^^t^e^,^it^< 
And  the  story  of  Adelaide  Anne 
Procter's  connection  with  House- 
hold Words  illustrates  our  point.  This  is  how  it  is  told  by  Charles 
Dickens  :— "  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1853,  I  observed,  as  con- 
ductor of  Household  Words,  a  short  poem  among  the  proffered  con- 
tributions, very  different,  as.  I  thought,  from  the  shoal  of  verses  per- 
petually setting  through  the  office  of  such  a  periodical,  and  possessing 
much  more  merit.  Its  authoress  was  quite  unknown  to  me.  She 
was  one  Miss  Mary  Berwick,  whom  I  ha.d  never  heard  of;  and  she 
was  to  be  addressed  by  letter,  if  addressed  at  all,  at  a  circulating 
library  in  the  western  district  of  London.  Through  this  channel 
Miss  Berwick  was  informed  that  her  poem  was  accepted,  and  was 
invited  to  send  another.  She  complied,  and  became  a  regular 
and  frequent  contributor.  Many  letters  passed  between  the  journal 
and  Miss  Berwick,  but  Miss  Berwick  herself  was  never  seen.  .  .  . 
This  went  on  until  December,  1854,  when  the  Christmas  Number, 
entitled  The  Seven  Poor  Travellers,  was  sent  to  press.  Happen- 
ing to  be  going  to  dine  that  day  with  an  old  and  dear  friend, 
distinguished  in  literature  as  '  Barry  Cornwall, '  I  took  with  me 
an  early  proof  of  that  number,  and  remarked,  as  I  laid  it  on  the 
drawing-room  table,  that  it  contained  a  very  pretty  poem,  written 
by  a  certain  Miss  Berwick.     Next  day  brought  me  the  disclosure 


I  8  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

that  I  had  so  spoken  of  the  poem  to  the  mother  of  its  writer,  in  its 
writer's  presence ;  that  I  had  no  such  correspondent  in  existence 
as  Miss  Berwick ;  and  that  the  name  had  been  assumed  by '  Barry 
Cornwall's  '  eldest  daughter,  Miss  Adelaide  Anne  Procter.  This 
anecdote,"  continues  Mr.  Dickens,  "strikingly  illustrates  the 
honesty,  independence,  and  quiet  dignity  of  the  lady's  character. 
I  had  known  her  when  she  was  very  young ;  I  had  been  honoured 
with  her  father's  friendship  when  I  was  myself  a  young  aspirant ; 
and  she  had  said  at  home,  'If  I  send  him  in  my  own  name  verses 
that  he  does  not  honestly  like,  either  it  will  be  very  painful  to 
him  to  return  them,  or  he  will  print  them  for  papa's  sake,  and  not 
for  their  own.'  " 

We  do  not  say,  then,  that  an  introduction  based  on  its  writer's 
knowledge  of  the  bearer's  personal  worth  is  never  to  be  used — ■ 
only  that  it  will  not  avail  unless  along  with  the  personal  worth 
there  is  also  professional  skill.  Nor  is  there  any  objection  to  a 
practice  of  addressing  "  copy  "  to  an  editor  by  name ;  for  he  may 
take  as  a  compliment,  to  be  rewarded  perhaps  by  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  MS.,  this  recognition  of  his  individuality — a 
recognition  which  is  not  an  offensively  intrusive  one.  But  we  do 
warn  all  beginners  against  attempts  to  bring  personal  influence  up 
the  editorial  back-stairs,  instead  of  taking  their  chance  fairly  and 
frankly  with  the  great  army  of  unknown  volunteers. 


HOW  TO  BEGIN. 


HE  main  difficulty  in  journalism,  as  in  so 
many  of  the  affairs  of  life,  is  the  start. 
The  very  uncertainty  of  the  final  accept- 
ance and  success  of  contributions  doubly 
disinclines  the  unenterprising  man  for  the 
effort — often  a  supreme  effort — of  com- 
position. Many  great  writers  have  put  off 
unsheathing  the  pen  as  long  as  they  could 
possibly  afford  to  be  idle.  If  Thackeray  had  not  lost  in  two  years 
the  fortune  he  inherited  when  he  came  of  age,  he  would  probably 
not  have  become  first  a  contributor  to  the  press,  and  then  the  author 
of  "Vanity  Fair  " ;  nor  did  the  stimulus  of  success  ever  conquer  his 
incurable  dislike  for  steady  work.  A  practised  journalist  will  often 
confess  to  an  utter  incapacity  to  produce  copy  except  under  pressure 
of  necessity.  If  he  has  a  week  for  his  task,  he  makes  no  progress 
until  the  last  days.  If  he  has  a  day  for  it,  the  m.orning  and 
afternoon  go,  and  though  he  sits  over  his  paper  and  ink,  nothing 
is  done  ;  but  at  night,  when  the  minutes  left  to  him  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  engagement  are  precious,  he  gets  into  full  swing,  and 


20,  journals  and  'Journalism. 

writes  both  rapidly  and  well.  In  short,  the  knowledge  that  the 
printers  are  waiting  for  his  copy  is  not  uncommonly  the  only 
source  of  the  journalist's  inspiration.  Mere  dislike,  then,  for  the 
mental  and  manual  labour  in  the  production  of  copy  need  not  be 
taken  by  the  literary  beginner  to  belie  his  aspirations,  and  will 
not  necessarily  interfere  with  his  final  success. 

But  obviously  it  is  well  to  lessen  this  reluctance  as  far  as  possible. 
And  this  can  often  be  done  by  observing  a  rule  which,  on  other 
grounds,  must  be  always  before  the  eyes  of  the  novice,  viz.,  to 
be  himself  in  all  he  writes.     Longfellow's  advice  to  the  sculptor, 

*'  That  is  best  which  lieth  nearest ; 
Shape  from  that  thy  work  of  art," 

is  equally  applicable  to  him.  Individuality,  where  it  is  not 
eccentric,  ill-timed,  or  out  of  taste,  is  a  precious  quality  in  an 
author.  Of  course  he  must  not  ride  his  veriest  hobbies  (though 
they  are  better  than  commonplaces) ;  but  without  going  to  ex- 
tremes he  ought  to  show  in  all  that  he  writes  that  he  ^vrites  it ; 
and  thus  he  will  rouse  the  double  interest  of  the  work  and  of  its 
author  in  his  readers.  Of  course,  reporting  in  one  form  and 
another  is  a  leading  feature  of  journalism,  and  is  an  art  in  itself; 
and  in  ordinary  reporting — not  in  special  reporting,  such  as  some  of 
Mr.  Sala's,  where  no  one  would  wish  to  forego  the  touches  he  gives 
us  of  himself— it  is  well  to  lose  sight  of  the  reporters.     By  them. 


How  to  begin.  21 

indeed,  impersonality  must  be  cultivated  as  carefully  as  it  ought  to 
be  avoided  by  those  whose  work  is  of  a  less  conventional  order. 

Supposing  that  a  beginner  has  followed  us  thus  far  in  what  we 
have  written,  has  studied  and  kept  the  commandments  which  are 
appended  at  the  end  of  the  book,  has  actually  taken  up  his  pen,  and 
written  something  because  he  feels  it  and  wants  to  say  it ;  the  next 
step,  now  to  be  considered,  is  to  forward  the  MS.  to  a  publication  into 
the  scope  of  which  it  comes,  with  or  without  an  introduction,  and 
with  or  without  an  accompanying  explanatory  letter,  subject  to  the 
necessities  of  the  case,  and  in  accordance  with  the  hints  thrown 
out  in  a  past  chapter.  Presumably  every  young  aspirant  has  his 
favourite  newspaper,  and  his  pet  magazine  ;  and  on  the  model  of 
the  writings  that  appear  in  these,  he  is  almost  sure  at  the  outset, 
unless  he  have  rare  originality,  to  mould  his  own.  Two  other 
things  are  almost  equally  certain:  that  he  will  send  his  first-fruits  to 
the  editor  whose  pages  have  indirectly  produced  them;  and 
secondly,  that  these  first-fruits  will  have  the  blemishes  which  always 
mark  imitative  art,  and  be  condemned  accordingly.  If  under 
these  circumstances  the  young  author,  in  the  bitterness  of  his 
disappointment,  tear  up  the  MS.  which  has  been  courteously  re- 
turned to  him,  no  great  harm  will  be  done.  The  destroying  stage 
is  one  through  which  all  must  pass,  even  the  greatest;  indeed,  great 
authors  often  regret  they  have  not  burned  more  than  they  did,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  efforts  of  Tennyson  and  Mrs.  Browning  to 


22  'Journals  and  yournalism. 

suppress  poems  published  even  after  they  were  out  of  their  teens  ; 
while  Macaulay  in  his  full  maturity  could  not  find  a  market  for 
everything  he  wrote,  and  there  are  MSS.  of  his,  according  to  a 
recent  article  in  Belgravia,  which  still  remain  unpublished,  and 
which  have  been  spared  the  flames  to  no  other  purpose  than  to 
show  that  even  a  Titan's  pen  is  sometimes  wielded  in  vain. 

But  if  the  young  author  is  tender  about  his  first  tentative 
writing,  and  feels  that  it  would  be  sweet  to  see  it  in  print,  even 
though  "there's  nothing  in  't,"  let  him  venture  it  again,  in  perhaps 
a  less  ambitious  quarter  than  before.  For,  above  all  things,  let 
him  never  be  ashamed  of  humble  beginnings.  The  most  unpre- 
tentious papers — even  some  of  the  cheap  organs,  not  supposed  to 
be  read  by  cultivated  people — have  been  the  nurseries  of  fair  con- 
temporary reputations  among  novelists.  The  literary  annals  of 
the  past  abound  with  instances  of  the  obscure  commencement  of 
a  literary  career  of  distinction.  Nearly  half-a-century  has  elapsed 
since  Dickens's  first  effusion  was  "dropped  stealthily,  with  fear  and 
trembling,  into  a  dark  letter-box,  in  a  dark  office,  up  a  court  in 
Fleet  Street ;"  and  when  it  appeared  "in  all  the  glory  of  print," 
his  sensation  of  pleasure  was  the  only  remuneration  he  expected 
or  got.  "  On  that  occasion,"  he  says,  "  I  walked  down  to 
Westminster  Hall,  and  turned  into  it  for  half-an-hour,  because 
my  eyes  were  so  dimmed  with  joy  and  pride  that  they  could 
not  bear  the  street,  and  were  not  fit  to  be  seen  there."    Other 


How  to  begin.  23 

and  more  substantial  recompense  he  had  none ;  and  before  he 

broke    his    connection    with    the    Old   Monthly  Magazine,   he 

modestly  wrote  to  the  editor  intimating  that,  as  he  had  hitherto 

sent  all  his  contributions  gratuitously,  he  would  now  be  glad  if 

the  "  sketches  "  were  thought  worthy  of  any  small  remuneration, 

otherwise  he  would  be  obliged  to  discontinue  them,  as  he  was 

going  to  get  married,  and  thus  incur  additional  domestic  expense. 

Thackeray's  first  literary  work  is 

lost  in  the  forgotten  pages  of  the        A  yVp         //X>  "^ 

Constitutional       John    Ruskin's        '  V    ^ "^^VaVjPOJ^>v^^ 

first  editor  was — a  clerk   in  the 

Crown  Life  Office  !  in  whose  Friendships  Offering  the  great  art 

critic    wrote    verses    at   fifteen. 

The    distinguished     author     of  >^  /^     '   ^ 

Self-Help  made   his  maiden   ^'^-,f^/y  ^^^Jt-t^t-^i^J^ 

pearance  in  the  Edinburgh  Weekly  ^-^  ^ 

Chronicle    (now   dead),   and  had,    a   little   later,   very   practical 

journalistic  experience  as  editor  of  the  Leeds  Times.     Hepworth 

Dixon  began  a  literary  career  of 

great  profit  and  some  honour,  by  /       \      /)  ^  {\  ^    '  /n^^ 

contributions  to  the  obscure  local  Wi  ^  W^^jJ^JJtw^^^ 

press,    indited    from    the    desk 

of   a    merchant's   office ;    and   he   subsequently   served   a   hard 

apprenticeship  to  letters  as  editor  of  a  Cheltenham  paper.     There 

are  hundreds  of  similar  cases  among  living  writers. 


24  'Journals  and  yournalism. 

All  this  should  impress  on  the  beginner  that  he  must  be 
humble  at  the  outset.  And  with  this  humility,  there  must  also 
be  great  diligence.  Manuscripts  must  be  sent  from  editor  to 
editor;  if  they  are  refused  by  one,  they  will  sometimes  be 
accepted  by  another.  Persistence  is  the  secret  of  success ;  it  is 
wearying  work,  no  doubt ;  but  how  often  crowned  with  triumph 
will  be  shown  in  the  chapter  entitled  "  Declined  with  Thanks." 
If  all  refuse  them,  fresh  MSS.  must  be  put  in  circulation,  one 
after  another  in  succession,  until  some  have  found  a  satisfactory 
destination,  and  these  latter  will  probably  help  the  others  to 
obtain  one  too.  This  is  a  common  way  of  getting  a  footing 
in  periodical  literature,  and  one  which  we  have  heard  perhaps 
the  most  experienced  editor  in  London  recommend  to  young 
men  who  came  to  him  for  counsel.  Another  way  is  to  take 
an  inferior  post  on  the  literary  staff  of  a  daily  paper,  turning 
the  hand  to  all  the  odds  and  ends  of  sub-editing  and  general 
reporting,  and  thus  gradually  qualifying  for  a  more  responsible 
position.  Another  and  most  inviting  entrance  into  the  republic  of 
letters  is  that  of  short-hand  reporting.  This  offers  the  advantage 
of  a  certain  income,  the  enjoyment  of  which  gives  a  man  opportu- 
nity to  turn  round  and  see  what  his  literary  capacity  is  ;  and  if  that 
capacity  stand  him  in  good  stead,  he  can  combine  its  exercise  with 
his  duties  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons,  or  wherever 
they  may  be ;   if  it  do  not,  he  has  a  staff  to  lean  on  that  is  not 


How  to  begin.  25 

only  a  walking-stick,  but  a  crutch.     Charles  Dickens,  as  every- 
one knows,  began  life  as   a    re- 
porter.       So     did     Justin     Mc 

Carthy,  M.P.  ;  and  so  did  many  AMlS.  J^^^  a/i^^^^ 

others  who   now   fill   prominent 

journalistic  places.  The  boy,  therefore,  who  desires  to  embrace 
the  literary  calling,  can  prepare  himself  for  it  as  soon  as  he  is 
in  his  teens,  by  learning  stenography ;  and  when  the  time  comes 
for  him  to  make  a  serious  choice  of  a  profession,  he  will  find  that 
the  conventionally  interposing  parent,  who,  having  the  vision  of 
Chatterton's  suicide  and  Johnson's  poverty  always  before  him, 
would  not  allow  his  son  to  trust  to  literature  as  a  means  of 
subsistence,  will  offer  no  objection  to  his  practising  reporting — a 
lucrative  and  steady  career.  And  once  in  communication  with  the 
world  of  editors  and  journalists,  the  young  short-hand  writer  will 
soon  feel  his  way  to  whatever  he  is  fit  for  in  literary  labour.  Again, 
a  few  beginners  have  first  accepted  posts  in  the  commercial 
department  of  a  newspaper  office,  and,  having  come  so  near 
to  the  editorial  sanctum,  at  last  enter  it,  reUnquishing  their 
mechanical  work  as  they  are  able  to  get  other  that  is  more  to 
their  minds.  This  preliminary  desk-work  is  drudgery,  no  doubt, 
just  as  it  was  in  a  la^vyer's  office  to  young  Disraeli  and  to 
Lever ;  so  also  is  reporting ;  but  those  who  undertake  these 
duties  often  do  so  to  meet  manfully  and  legitimately  the  natural 

B 


26  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

wishes  of  parents,  who,  as  old  Isaac  DisraeH  says,  see  in  the 
son  who  opposes  them  in  the  choice  of  a  calling,  and  whom 
posterity  may  recognize  as  a  genius,  only  the  wilful  and  rebellious 
child.  And,  indeed,  by  the  endurance  of  this  drudgery  young 
aspirants  show  of  what  metal  they  are  made,  and  prove  that 
they  have  confidence  in  themselves  and  in  their  true  vocation — a 
confidence  which,  when  it  has  stood  so  practical  a  test,  rarely 
turns  out  to  be  misplaced.  Other  employments  than  those 
which  we  have  named,  connected  with  the  production  of  a 
journal,  may  sometimes  be  the  preparatory  stages  of  a  hterary 
career,  but  are  not  of  a  nature  that  would  lead  us  to  recommend 
their  adoption  to  that  end.  The  "reader,"  who  cudgels  his 
brains  over  the  "  proofs  "  of  what  others  have  written,  occasionally 
begins  to  write  himself  Even  the  printer  has  been  known  to 
make  his  way  into  the  editor's  or  author's  chair,  and  to  fill  it 
with  credit  —  seldomer,  perhaps,  in  England,  where  Douglas 
Jerrold  was  among  the  number,  than  in  America,  where  Franklin, 
Horace  Greeley,  Bennett,  Bret  Harte,  and  Artemus  Ward,  with 
many  others  only  less  renowned,  once  stood  at  the  compositor's 
case. 


DECLINED  WITH  THANKS. 


O  consolations  that  we  can  here  offer  will 
be  able  to  mitigate  the  sting  of  a  first — 
or,  indeed,  of  a  second  or  of  a  third — re- 
ception of  this  courteous  but  inexorable 
form  of  refusal.  It  is  not  until  after  one 
or  two  acceptances  of  MS.  that  a  rejection 
becomes  in  any  degree  tolerable.  When 
the  acceptances  outnumber  the  rejections, 
indeed,  "  Declined  with  thanks  "  will  generally  cease  to  cause  a 
serious  pang.  At  that  happy  time,  too,  it  will  matter  little  to  an 
author  whether  his  refusal  come  to  him  in  these  laconic  words,  or 
in  the  longer  forms  which  are  designed  to  save  his  sensitiveness 
by  a  vague  suggestion  of  some  rather  unusual  reason  for  the 
return  of  good  work.  But  to  the  novice  the  form  really  makes 
some  difference  ;  to  hear  that  his  copy  is  "  not  suitable  "  for  the 
pages  of  this  or  that  paper  gives  him  the  comforting  reflection 
that  he  has  in  some  way  failed  to  hit  the  editor's  individual  taste, 
or  that  his  subject  is  considered  to  be  one  that  could  be  more 
appropriately  treated  elsewhere.     Still  more  gently  is  he  soothed 


2  8  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

if  his  pill  come  to  him  gilded  with  an  intimation  that  an  unusual 
press  of  matter  has  prevented  the  appearance  in  print  of  his  con- 
tribution. The  following  note  illustrates  this  more  tender  editorial 
mood : — 

"  The  editor  of  the  Contemporary  Review  is  much  obliged  by 

Mr.  's  offer  of  his  paper.     It  is  too  able  an  article  not  to 

have  been  read  with  interest,  but  the  editor  regrets  to  say  that  it 
is  quite  impracticable  to  find  room  for  the  topic.  In  reforwarding 
the  MS.  ^  by  this  book-post,  the  editor  begs  to  add  his  best 
thanks." 

If  the  author  accepts  such  little  comforts  resignedly,  so  much 
the  better.  But  so  much  the  worse — very  much  indeed  the  worse 
— if,  being  of  a  too  persevering  or  persistent  disposition,  he  should 
argue  the  point  with  the  well-meaning  editor.  Let  him  at  all  events 
accept  as  final  a  refusal  for  which  he  may  find  any  reason  that 
consoles  him  most ;  to  dispute  the  justice  of  the  verdict,  or  even 
to  offer  to  alter,  tone  down,  or  improve  the  MS.  with  a  view  to 
obtaining  a  more  favourable  resolution,  is  only  to  involve  a  busy 
editor  in  an  irritating  waste  of  time,  and  to  gradually  discourage 
the  use  of  polite  forms  and,  indeed,  the  return  of  rejected  MSS. 
at  all.  An  unsuccessful  author  is  really  to  be  pitied  if  the  work 
of  some  months  of  thought  and  some  days  or  weeks  of  laborious 
penmanship  finds  its  ignominious  way  into  the  editorial  waste- 
paper  basket — a  fate  which,  to  the  great  credit  of  editors  generally, 


Declined  with  thanks.  29 

very  rarely  befalls  it,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  dismal  warnings 
which  are  printed  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  most  periodicals  to 
the  effect  that  unsuitable  MSS.  will  never  be  returned.  In  view 
of  such  ill-iortune  at  any  time  occurring  to  him,  the  beginner  would 
do  well,  in  the  case  of  serious  and  laborious  work,  to  make 
duplicates  of  his  compositions  by  means  of  one  or  other  of  the 
cheap  and  easily-worked  contrivances  for  multiplying  impressions ; 
unless,  indeed,  as  is  likely  to  be  the  case,  he  has  rough  drafts,  scored 
with  corrections,  of  the  finally-approved  MS.  ready  at  hand  to 
work  upon  again.  The  more  there  are  of  these  rough  drafts  the 
better  will  it  be,  and  the  less  likely  that  the  writer  will  need  to  go 
to  them  again  ;  for  well  has  it  been  said — and  this  must  be  im- 
pressed on  the  amateur's  mind— that  "the  men  who  have  the 
fewest  MSS.  returned  are  the  men  who  have  taken  the  greatest 
pains  with  their  work."     Macau- 

layandCardinalNewman penned  J?^^^;^y^^^^^^^^^,^_^^^^ 
many  of  their  pages  twice,  thrice,  (, 

and     oftener;    George     Henry 

Lewes,  after  having  an  article  returned  from  the  Editiburgh^  thence- 
forth re-wrote  everything  before  submitting  it  to  a  magazine ; 
while  in  journalism  Mr.  Albany  Fonblanque,  we  are  told  by 
his  nephew,  Mr.  Edward  Barrington  de  Fonblanque,  "fre- 
quently wrote  an  article  ten  times  over  before  it  contented  him, 
and  even  then  he  very  rarely  read  it  after  publication  without 


3©  journals  and  'Journalism. 

wishing  to  re-write  it."  When,  indeed,  such  articles  as  these,  or 
when  poems  and  stories,  which  after  a  few  weeks  or  months  of 
reflection  do  not  appear  to  be  immature  to  the  authors  themselves, 
are  returned,  let  them  not  be  committed  to  the  flames.  At  some 
future  date  they  will  serve  the  writer's  purpose ;  especially  if  in 
the  meantime  he  has  made  a  success  by  some  other  effort. 
Thackeray's  earlier  compositions,  both  in  prose  and  verse,  which 
either  "  the  leading  magazines  had  all  refused  to  print "  or  the 
public  had  refused  to  read,  were  all  blazoned  years  afterwards 
in  the  pages  of  the  Cornhill;  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  had  a  similar 
experience  in  the  new  world ;  and  we  have  heard  the  editor  who, 
if  we  remember  right,  introduced  "  East  Lynne  "  to  the  world, 
say  that  Mrs.  Henry  Wood  had  at  the  time  of  that  first  success  a 
drawer  full  of  tales  which  had  been  "  returned  with  thanks  "  from 
all  directions,  but  which  were  afterwards  printed,  handsomely  paid 
for,  and  duly  admired.  Of  course  these  are  exceptional  cases ;  and 
it  will  be  better  and  wiser,  as  a  rule,  for  the  beginner  to  allow  the 
fugitive  literary  attempts,  of  which  he  himself  may  feel  somewhat 
uncertain,  to  take  their  chance,  sink  or  swim,  survive  or  die,  as 
fortune  may  immediately  decide. 

Stinging  and  discouraging  and  incapacitating  as  a  "Declined  with 
thanks  "  may  seem  to  the  novice  who  for  the  first  time  tears  open 
the  heartless  packet  which  discloses  to  him  the  characters  of  his 
own  familiar  hand,  there  is  a  solid  and  abundant  consolation  for 


Declined  with  thanks.  31 

him — as  regards  his  hopes  of  ultimate  success,  at  least — in  the 
long  roll  of  precedent.     The  failures  of  men  destined  to  be  great 
do  not  date  from  yesterday.     Editors  and  publishers  have  declined 
with  thanks — and  without  them — the  masterpieces  of  the  world. 
The  ill-fortune  of  "  Paradise  Lost "  is  almost  too  hackneyed  an 
example  to  quote  ;  but  perhaps  everyone  does  not  know,  or  does 
not  remember,  that  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  which,  were  it  ever  by 
possibility  out  of  print,  would  be  a  European  loss,  went  begging 
through  the  circle  of  English  publishers,  until  one,  more  specula- 
tive but  generally  considered  less  discriminating  than  the  rest, 
consented  to  print  the  immortal  book  and  to  pocket  a  thousand 
guineas  at  once  by  his  venture.     It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say 
that  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  is  one  of  the  staple  sources  of  profit  to 
a  thousand  publishers,  and  holds  its  own  in  spite  of  the  innumer- 
able desert  islands  which  have  studded  the  oceans  of  juvenile 
fiction  since  the   first   appeared.      And  this  almost  unanimous 
refusal  encountered  Defoe's  attempt,  not  when  he  was  young  and 
unknown,  but  after  the  estabHshment  of  his  repute  as  a  writer. 
And  to  come  to  later  examples,  everyone  knows  how  the  author 
of  "  Jane  Eyre  "  wrote  a  novel  in  friendly  competition  with  her 
two  sisters  (the  story  is  admirably  told  by  Charlotte  Bronte  herself 
in  the  pathetic  introduction  she  wrote  for  an  edition  of  Emily 
Bronte's  Wutherhig  Heights)^  and  how  it  went  a  weary  round  of 
publishers,  declined  with  thanks  by  each  alike,  but  every  time 


32  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

courageously  despatched  on  its  travels  again  by  the  indomitable 
little  Yorkshire  governess  until  the  signs  (frankly  unconcealed)  of 
so  many  rejections  awoke  some  kindly  interest,  on  the  part 
of  Messrs.  Smith  and  Elder's  critic,  in  the  battered  MS.  and 
its  persistent  author.  Thackeray,  Charlotte  Bronte's  con- 
temporary and  friend,  failed,  and  failed  repeatedly,  not  only  at 
drawing,  which  he  did  badly,  but  at  writing,  which  he  did 
eminently  well,  for  his  contributions,  as  we  have  already  said, 
were   at    first  refused   by   all   the   leading   magazines.     Carlyle, 

after  being   "  edited  "  out  of  all 

^^         f         If  recognition    in    the    Edinburgh 

I  %     ^^-'Gy'^  A-A-'  Review^     was     finally     rejected 

as  a  contributor  altogether. 
Mr.  Kinglake's  "  Eothen,"  though  composed  with  thought,  and 
the  work  of  years,  scrupulously  revised,  and,  in  fact,  fulfilling 
the  Horatian  maxim  of  delay,  was  utterly,  unconditionally, 
and  irrevocably  rejected  by  every  publisher  to  whom  the  author 
offered  it.  At  last  he  found  one  who  would  consent  to  accept 
the  precious  and  classic  little  work  as  a  present,  judging 
it  just  worthy  of  printer's  ink  and  paper.  Nor  did  "  Eothen," 
after  this  disheartening  beginning,  instantaneously  burst  into 
popularity  like  "  Robinson  Crusoe."  At  first  it  seemed  that  the 
publishers  were  right,  and  that  it  would  remain  a  failure  to  the 
end ;  but  the  event  has  brought  a  very  different  verdict.     Anthony 


Declined  with  thanks.  33 

Trollope,  in  his  middle .  age  the  most  read,  as  he  is  perhaps  the 
most  readable,  of  novelists,  was  fain  in  early  life  to  taste  the  bitter- 
ness of  rejection  not  once  or  twice;  the  judicious,  easy,  and  always 
refined  pen  which  has  now  a  fortune  at  command,  gained  an 
income  of  ;^i2  5s.  7|d.  in  one  of  the  first  years  of  its  labours, 
and  of  ;^20  2s.  6d.  in  another.  Hepworth  Dixon  experienced  no 
small  difficulty  in  finding  a  publisher  for  his  *'  Memoir  of  Howard," 
which,  when  it  was  at  last  issued,  went  through  three  editions 
within  a  year.  The  great  American  historian.  Motley,  had  his 
"  Dutch  Republic  "  returned  with  thanks  ;  a  similar  fate  befell 
Carlyle's  "  French  Revolution ; "  and  Lingard's  history,  which 
every  year  commands  more  attention  and  esteem,  also  shared  the 
doom  of  refusal.  Lord  Brougham  was  rejected;  Jeffrey,  the 
rejector,  was  rejected ;  George  Eliot  herself  is  said  to  have  been 
rejected  until  she  found  a  mascuhne  advocate  in  George  Henry 
Lewes  ;  but  George  Henry  Lewes  was  rejected  !  Indeed,  it  is 
easier  to  say  who  has  not,  than  who  has,  undergone  that  blank 
moment  of  chilled  and  disappointed  hope — our  readers'  experience 
of  which  will,  we  trust,  be  limited. 

And  to  this  end,  let  it  be  alwiiys  remembered  that  the  tact 
which  produces  viarketabh  work  is  sometimes  more  useful  than  the 
talent  which  produces  good  work.  Unhappily,  the  two  things  are 
not  always  identical.  A  composition  of  real  power  and  originality 
may  in  fact,  and  not  merely  in  the  terms  of  editorial  courtesy,  be 

B  2 


34  Journals  and  Journalism, 

unsaleable  because  it  is  unjournalistic  in  manner  or  inopportune 
to  the  time.  This  fact  should  not  fail  to  soften  disappointments. 
And  furthermore,  if  a  rejected  beginner  should  be  tempted 
to  indulge  the  frame  of  mind  most  fatal  to  all  his  chances  of 
success — a  conviction  of  personal  injury — he  should  restore  a 
healthy  tone  to  his  mind  by  believing,  what  is  tl^  truth,  that 
editors  are  kind,  through  a  fellow-feeling  and  a  remembrance  of 
their  own  apprenticeship  ;  and  just,  through  a  fair  consideration  of 
self-interest.  Let  him  reflect  for  a  moment  on  the  number  of 
newspapers,  reviews,  and  magazines  which  are  produced  daily, 
weekly,  and  monthly  in  England,  and  on  the  number  of  pens  at 
work  upon  only  one  issue  of  one  of  these,  and  he  will  easily 
perceive  that  the  competition  for  securing  good  contributions  is 
very  keen  and  very  busy.  "  Returned  with  thanks,"  is  not  likely 
to  be  written  without  a  reason.  When,  therefore,  publishers  and 
editors  have  fallen  into  real  mistakes,  as  in  the  famous  instances 
we  have  cited,  allowance  must  simply  be  made  for  their  fallibility 
as  men  who  have  to  gauge  the  taste  of  a  whimsical  and  often 
irrational  public,  and  who  sometimes  gauge  it  wrong.  No  one 
could  foretell  with  certainty  that  "  Jane  Eyre "  would  take  the 
country  as  it  did ;  and  in  Thackeray's  case  it  was  no  editorial 
caprice  which  condemned  him  to  a  period  of  obscurity,  for  the 
public  at  first  altogether  failed  to  taste  the  peculiar  flavour  of  his 
genius,  thus  in  a  manner  justifying  the  rejection  :  for  an  editor's 


Declined  with  thanks.  35 

office  is  not  to  defy,  but  half  to  guide  and  half  to  wait  upon,  the 
public.  "  So  your  poor  Titraarsh  has  made  another  fiasco," 
wrote  Thackeray,  when  a  little  volume  of  his  failed.  "  How  are 
we  to  take  this  great  stupid  public  by  the  ears  ?  Never  mind  ;  I 
think  I  have  something  which  will  surprise  them  yet."  The 
"something"  proved  to  be  "Vanity  Fair;"  and  the  "great stupid 
public  "  whose  good  word  he  was  too  wise  to  underrate  even 
while  he  smiled  at  its  slowness,  awoke  to  the  full  knowledge  of 
one  more  great  author,  and  will  never  forget  him. 

But  what  we  have  said  would  fail  of  half  its  purpose  were  it 
only  to  offer  a  balm  to  the  wounds  of  the  young  author  whose 
MS.  has  been  returned  or  silently  consigned  to  the  editorial 
waste-paper  basket.  It  is  also  intended  to  inculcate  industry, 
perseverance,  and  a  courage  that  does  not  flag  because  the  first 
effort,  or  the  fifth,  is  a  failure.  "  We  should  certainly  shrink,"  says 
the  Saturday  Review,  cynical  in  the  consciousness  that  it  possesses 
an  adequate  staff  of  its  own,  "  from  the  responsibility  of  recom- 
mending perseverance  to  the  writers  of  rejected  MSS. ;  but," 
and  this  is  the  part  of  the  paragraph  which  it  is  to  our  point  to 
quote  here,  "  we  cannot  deny  that  unflinching  perseverance 
sometimes  succeeds  at  last."  Instead  of  "  sometimes  "  we  should 
be  inclined  to  use  a  more  encouraging  word,  because  we  are 
convinced  that  among  the  aspirants  for  literary  honours  the 
minority,  and  not  the  majority,  are  incapable.     Of  course,  worth- 


36  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

less  writing  will  gain  nothing  by  the  persistence  of  the  writer ;  but 
the  best  authors  our  literature  has  known  would,  without  persis- 
tence, have  failed  to  obtain  for  their  genius  that  recognition  which 
is  its  very  life. 


POUNDS,  SHILLINGS,  AND  PENCE. 


ri) 


GOOD  deal  has  happened  since  Charles 
Lamb  wrote  paragraphs  for  sixpence 
apiece  in  the  Morni?ig  Post ;  though  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  age  of 
pence  has  given  place  to  an  age  of 
shillings,  not  only  in  literature,  but  in 
everything  else  ;  and  the  paragraphists  of 
to-day's  Pall  Mall,  who  get  about  sixpence 
for  a  single  line,  spend  that  sixpence  with  an  ease  to  which,  fifty 
years  ago,  they  would  have  been  strangers.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  the 
case  of  Southey  may  be  taken  as  typical,  not  so  much  of  the  active 
journalist  as  of  the  reviewer  and  essayist,  both  of  that  and  of  this 
day  ;  and  it  is  not  a  comfortable  one  to  contemplate.  "  Prose," 
writes  Sir  Henry  Taylor  of  his  friend,  "  having  been  almost  the 
only  resource  of  one  who  was  at  once  an  eminent  poet,  and  in 
general  literature  the  most  distinguished  writer  of  his  age  (Mr. 
Southey),  his  example  may  be  fairly  adduced  as  showing  what  can 
be  made  of  it  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances.  By  a 
small   pension   and   the   office   of  Laureate    (yielding    together 


38  yournals  and  'Journalism. 

about  ;^2oo  per  annum)  he  was  enabled  to  insure  his  life  to  make 
a  moderate  posthumous  provision  for  his  family ;  and  it  remained 
for  him  to  support  himself  and  them,  so  long  as  he  should  live, 
by  his  writings.  With  unrivalled  industry,  infinite  stores  of  know- 
ledge, extraordinary  talents,  a  delightful  style,  and  the  devotion  of 
about  one-half  of  his  time  to  writing  what  should  be  marketable 
rather  than  what  he  would  have  desired  to  write,  he  defrayed  the 
cost  of  that  frugal  and  homely  way  of  life  which  he  deemed  to  be 
the  happiest  and  the  best.  But  at  sixty  years  of  age  he  had  never 
yet  had  one  year's  income  in  advance,  and  when  between  sixty  and 
seventy  His  powers  of  writing  failed,  had  it  not  been  for  the  timely 
grant  of  an  additional  pension  his  means  of  subsistence  would 
have  failed  too."  We  have  spoken  of  this  as  a  typical  case,  yet  it 
is  hardly  so  except  in  its  disheartening  pecuniary  results,  for  in  its 
conditions  it  was  made  more  than  typically  favourable  by  Southey's 
ability,  his  pension,  his  connexions,  and  his  quite  enormous 
industry.  In  saying  that  these  results  represent  literary  rewards, 
not  only  in  that  day,  but  in  our  own,  we  make  a  statement  to 
which  Mr.  James  Payn — who  recently  contributed  to  the  Nineteenth 
Century  a  bright  article  which,  if  he  will  permit  us  to  say  so, 
never  allows  us  to  forget  that  its  author  is  a  writer  of  romance — 
will  doubtless  demur.  "  Poor  Paterfamilias,"  he  says,  "  looking 
hopelessly  about  him,  like  Quintus  Curtius  in  the  riddle,  for  a 
nice  opening  for  a  young  man,  is  totally  ignorant  of  the  oppor- 


Pounds^  Shillings^  and  Fence,  39 

tunities,  if  not  for  fame  and  fortune,  at  least  for  competency  and 
comfort,  that  literature  now  offers  to  a  clever  lad.  He  believes, 
perhaps,  that  it  is  only  geniuses  that  succeed  in  it ;  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  he  regards  it  as  a  hand-to-mouth  calling,  which  to-day 
gives  its  disciples  a  five-pound  note -and  to-morrow  five  pence. 
He  calls  to  mind  a  saying  about  literature  being  a  good  stick,  but 
not  a  good  crutch — an  excellent  auxiliary,  but  no  permanent 
support  ;  but  he  forgets  the  all-important  fact  that  the  remark 
was  made  half  a-century  ago."  This  is  all  very  well  from  that 
most  fortunate  of  literary  men,  a  clever  and  successful  novelist, 
who  shines  in  a  sphere  of  the  profession  which  cannot  wrll  at  any 
time  be  overcrowded.  He,  clearly,  is  not  in  a  position  to  judge 
either  for  the  average  essayist  or  for  the  journalist  proper. 

And  here  let  us  pause  a  moment  to  make  a  necessary  distinction 
between  two  divisions  of  the  profession  we  are  considering,  litera- 
ture and  journalism — taking  literature  to  mean  broadly  the 
writing  of  books,  magazines,  and  reviews,  and  journalism  the  writing 
for  newspapers.  These  are  distinct  in  the  talents,  character, 
aims,  and  remunerations  which  they  imply.  A  journalist  is  bound 
to  be  a  man  of  the  world,  as  an  author  is  bound  to  be  a  student. 
The  former  developes  a  capacity  for  representing  his  era,  for 
letting  the  general  opinion  speak  through  him  even  while  he  helps 
to  guide  it.  He  produces  work  which  is  eminently  marketable ; 
and  the  more  of  this  quality  appears  in  his  writings,  the  more 


40  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

successful  he  will  be.     Mr.  Sala 
jTt     ^        rr    /  is  a  king  among  journalists ;  his 

Z  '       ''   *^  success  is  pre-eminent, proverbial; 

yet  it  is  said  that  he  is  wont  to 
tell  his  friends  that  he  took  to  journalism  because  he  failed, 
only  comparatively,  of  course,  in  literature.  That  there  are 
differences  in  the  requisite  talents,  therefore,  is  clear.  Not  a  few 
are  able  to  combine  the  two  things,  to  be  at  once  students  and 
men  of  the  world,  but  in  these  instances  journalism  generally  is 
subservient  to  authorship,  or  vice  versa,  according  to  the  state  of 
the  author's  mind  or  of  his  finances — for  these  two  branches  of  the 
profession  differ,  as  we  have  said,  not  only  in  the  qualifications 
they  require,  but  also  in  the  scale  of  their  rewards. 

Southey,  of  course,  belonged  to  Uterature;  and  w'e  shall  first 
consider  what  work  of  the  same  order  as  his,  which  was 
wretchedly  paid  then,  is  valued  at  in  the  market  now.  Fiction 
we  leave  out  of  the  question;  the  price  it  fetches  is  far  in 
excess  of  that  which  is  given  for  prose  writing  of  any  other 
kind,  and  is  magnificent.  And  this,  whatever  may  be  said,  was 
the  case  half-a-century  ago  as  it  is  now — was  so  when  Walter 
Scott  annually  made  ;!^  10,000  for  several  years,  quite  as  much 
as  when  George  Eliot  received  for  "Romola"  ;^8,ooo.  Other 
literary  labour  cuts  a  sorry  figure  in  comparison.  Were  not 
Mr.  Payn,  who  probably  commands  his  fifty  shillings  a  page  for 


Pounds,  Shillings,  and  Pence.  41 

fiction,  a  writer  of  novels,  he 
would   give  a  less   seductive        (J 
view    of  the    profits    of  the     J- /Z^P^-^^^ 
literary  career.    For  the  pound  ^ 
which  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  the    Contemporary,   and  the 
Quarterly  pay  for  a  printed  page  is  quite  the  highest  regulation 
rate   of  remuneration   for   the   periodical   essayist  and  reviewer. 
The  shilling  monthhes  give  Ofi  an  average  rather  under  than  over 
half  that  sum ;  while  in  a  certain  high-class  weekly,  a  long  book- 
notice,  which   has,    perhaps,   involved   the  patient  study  of  two 
bulky   volumes,    and    which,   when    done    conscientiously,   has 
consumed  some  five  or  six  days,  has  only  ^£2  as  its  pecuniary 
equivalent.      Another   literary   weekly^  where,   again,    the    work 
involves  the  twofold   task   of  reading   and  writing,  pays  los.  a 
column;    and   other  papers,    of   less   eminence,   in   proportion. 
This   might   be   very  fair  remuneration  were   not  work   of  the 
kind  difficult  to  get,  and   doled   out  in  minute  portions,  week 
by  week,  month  by  month,  quarter  by  quarter.     The  magazines, 
reviews,  and  literary  papers  of  standing  can  almost  be  counted  on 
the  fingers  ;  and  with  an  army  of  applicants  for  an  appearance  in 
their  pages,  no  one  man,  hov/ever  brilliant  he  may  be,  can  have 
anything  like  a  monopoly.      Perhaps  hardly  a  single  writer  on 
any  of  the  weekly  literary  papers  has  an  article  inserted  every 
week  throughout  the  year ;  yet,  if  he  had,  his  total  earnings  would 


42  'Journals  and  yournalism, 

only  amount  to  a  sum  which  it  would  be  a  mockery  to  speak 
of,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  as  an  income.  Do  the  monthly  maga- 
zines offer  better  rewards  ?  If  in  one  or  other  of  them  a  single 
writer  made  one  monthly  appearance  (and  what  a  brilliant  writer 
he  would  be !),  the  result  would  certainly  be  less  than  ;£iS^ 
per  annum ;  yet  the  amateur,  seeing  that  writer's  name  in  the 
Cornhill  one  month,  in  Macmillan  the  next,  in  The  Contemporary 
the  month  after,  would,  perhaps,  imagine  him  to  be  rolling  in 
wealth.  It  is  hardly  a  secret  that  even  Mr.  Mallock,  who  not 
only  writes  well,  but  has  caught  the  public  ear,  and  whose  work 
is  welcomed  by  The  Nineteenth  Century,  The  Contemporary,  and 
Tlie  Edinburgh,  has  hitherto  made  an  income  by  his  pen  quite 
insufficient  to  allow  him  to  regard  literature  as  his  career. 

Poetry,  like  fiction,  is  exceptional ;  the  former  being,  in  a 
general  way,  as  much  less,  as  the  latter  is  more,  remunerative 
than  other  literary  work.  Of  course  the  public  has  its  one  prime 
poetical  favourite,  and  pays  him  well,  though  not  better  now  (as 
Mr.  Tennyson  would  feelingly  assure  Mr.  Payn)  than  it  did  fifty 
years  ago.  Until  last  year  the  Laureate  received,  from  one  firm, 
annually  ^^4,000  for  his  copyrights ;  but  there  is  only  room  for 
one  Tennyson  at  a  time.  Walter  Scott  got  2,000  guineas  for  the 
'*  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  but  Walter  Scott  had  to  abandon  poetry 
as  soon  as  Lord  Byron  appeared ;  and  while  Lord  Byron  was 
calculating  one  morning  that  he  had  made  ;^24,ooo  by  poetry, 


Pounds^  Shillings,  and  Pence.  43 

Shelley  was  complaining  of  the  printer's  bill  he  had  to  defray 
out  of  his  own  pocket.  Poetry  like  Southey's  paid  little  in  that 
day,  and  would  pay  less  now.  Mr.  Browning's  receipts  may  be 
smaller  than  those  of  some  of  the  veriest  hacks  in  prose. 
Mr.  Edwin  Arnold  would  probably  get  more  for  a  dozen  political 
leaders,  hastily  thrown  off,  than  for  the  "  Light  of  Asia,"  a  work 
of  scholarly  erudition,  of  inspired  poetry,  and  the  outcome  of 
half  a  lifetime  of  Oriental  study  and  sympathy — a  work  which  has 
fixed  his  place  among  the  English  bards.  And  Mr.  Aubrey 
de  Vere — whom  Landor  loved,  and  whom  Sir  Henry  Taylor 
names  in  the  same  breath  with  Wordsworth — would  probably 
have  to  confess  that  his  lifelong  service  of  the  muse  brought  him 
less  than  his  handful  of  articles  in  the  Edinburgh  years  ago, 
containing,  in  all,  the  prose  writing  of  perhaps  a  single  month. 
The  magazine  verse  of  to-day  is  excellent,  and  is  paid  for  in 
the  best  quarters  at  the  rate  of  about  half-a-crown  a  line;  in 
others,  two  guineas,  a  guinea,  and  even  half-a-guinea  are  the  sums 
given  for  a  short  set  of  verses.  And  the  supply  of  such  poetry 
is,  of  course,  largely  in  excess  of  the  demand.  Clearly,  then,  in 
all  these  cases,  literature,  while  an  excellent  stick,  and  one  which 
we  would  encourage  amateurs  to  use,  is  decidedly  unsafe  as 
a  crutch. 

But  journalism  can  give  a  somewhat  better  account  of  itself. 
Those  arts  which  bring  their  votaries  into  close  contact  with  men, 


44  Journals  and  journalism. 

and  into  the  full  light  of  publicity,  are  usually  enriched  with  the 
rewards  attending  effective  performance.  The  musician  who 
creates — the  composer — is  seldom  fortunate  in  his  lifetime,  while 
the  musician  who  performs — the  singer — has  the  wealth  of  kings 
at  his  feet.  This  case  is  rather  an  exaggeration  of  that  of  author 
and  journalist;  still  there  is  a  resemblance  :  the  journalist  gets  the 
ear  of  the  public;  his  writing  is  good  performance,  rather  than 
creation,  for  it  must  be  not  so  much  original  as  interpretative, 
both  of  public  opinion  and  of  the  collected  literary  opinions 
of  the  world. 

The  work  of  the  journalist  is  in  constant  demand ;  his  organs 
infinitely  outnumber  the  organs  of  literature,  and  they  appear 
weekly,  daily,  and  twice  a  day,  instead  of  once  a  quarter,  once 
a  month,  and  once  a  week.  Every  daily,  for  instance,  gives 
employment  to  a  large  and  well-rewarded  staff.  There  are  the 
editor,  the  sub-editors,  the  special  correspondents,  the  regularly 
retained  leader-writers,  most  of  whose  salaries,  in  the  case  of  the 
Times — naturally  the  most  profitable  daily  to  be  connected  with — 
go  into  four  figures ;  nor  are  the  other  London  dailies  far  behind 
the  leading  organ  in  the  remuneration  of  their  staff.  The  work  is 
wearing,  no  doubt;  but  the  pecuniary  returns  are  sufficient  to 
tempt  able  men  to  undertake  it,  and  to  make  it  a  career  which  a 
man  who  has  no  private  means,  and  who  wishes  to  prosper 
in  the  world  and  to  provide  for  his  family,  can  afford  deliberately 


Pounds,  Shillings,  afid  Pence.  45 

to  enter  on.  But  for  the  dailies,  destitution  would  stare  many  a 
journalist  in  the  face.  And  not  only  does  each  maintain  its  estab- 
lished staff,  which,  in  the  case  of  the  Tijncs,  is,  of  course,  immense ; 
but  it  also  gives  employment  to  a  large  class  of  journalistic 
irregulars,  who  turn  their  hands  to  anything — the  unattached 
(sometimes  by  their  faults,  and  sometimes  by  their  misfortunes) 
penny-a-liners — three-halfpence-a-liners,  would  be  nearer  the  mark 
— of  the  press.  Always  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  often 
on  the  verge  of  destitution,  this  large  body  of  literary  casuals 
includes  in  its  ranks  three  principal  classes — that  of  the  men  of 
briUiant  powers  and  education,  in  whom  the  quality  of  sustained 
industry  is  wanting,  and  who  might  have  developed  into 
Macaulays  but  for  this  deficiency  ;  that  of  the  industrious,  who 
are  useful  and  handy,  but  whose  capacity  is  mediocre ;  and  that 
of  the  possessors  of  both  talent  and  perseverance  who  work  when 
and  how  they  can,  no  assured  position  having  yet  fallen  to  their 
lot.  That  such  men  as  these  are  often  hungry  is  a  fact,  and  one 
of  the  saddest  facts  of  modern  intellectual  life.  Even  the  new 
world  has  to  tell  the  same  story.  "Two-thirds  of  all  the  working 
journalists  of  the  country,"  says  a  writer  in  Harper's  Monthly, 
"receive  less  than  the  wages  of  good  mechanics,"  "I  beheve 
the  majority  of  us,"  says  an  American  journalist,  Mr.  A.  F.  Hill, 
"have  passed  through  the  hard-up  days.  What  is  the  use  of 
denying  it?     I  have  worked  for  five  dollars  a. week,  and  slept  on 


46  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

a  pile  of  exchanges.  I  have  seen  the  time  when  '  circumstances 
over  which  I  had  no  control '  dictated  to  me  the  necessity — not 
merely  the  propriety — of  eating  plainer  food  than  I  would  have 
liked — plainer  food  than  the  kind  I  needed,  and  of  not  even 
wasting  any  of  that.  I  have  seen  the  time  when  a  person  I  know 
very  intimately  has  gone  without  food  for  days  at  a  time,  and  that 
when  in  excellent  bodily  health,  and  blessed  (?)  with  an  unusual 
appetite.  I  have  seen  the  days  of  threadbare  clothes,  of  dilapidated 
shoes,  and  a  '  shocking  bad  hat ; '  and  when  it  brought  the 
hot  blood  to  my  face  to  hear  careless  and  happy  and  well-fed  and 
well-clothed  people  merrily  singing  the  chorus  of  a  well-known 
song : 

"  Too  proud  to  beg,  too  honest  to  steal, 
We  know  what  it  is  to  be  wanting  a  meal  ; 
Our  tatters  and  rags  we  try  to  conceal. 
We  belong  to  the  '  Shabby  Genteel.'  " 

Such  experiences  as  these  are  not  unknown  among  some  of  our 
own  most  painstaking  journalists  who  seem  to  be  fairly  busy,  and 
some  of  whom  are,  in  fact,  on  the  high  road  to  fame.  The  world 
hears  little  about  such  poverty  as  this,  but  it  is  none  the  less  real ; 
nay,  if  it  were  a  little  less  so,  there  would  be  less  of  a  sensitive 
desire  to  lock  it  in  silence.  When  The  Edinburgh  was  pro- 
jected in  Jeffrey's  elevated  lodging,  Sydney  Smith  proposed  as  its 


Pounds^  Shillings,  and  Pence.  47 

motto,  Temii  musam  meditamur  avenct  (we  cultivate  literature  on 
a  little  oatmeal) ;  but  the  phrase  was  not  adopted,  because,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  came  so  near  the  truth.  However,  the  pecuniary 
result  of  the  Edmburgh  brings  us  back  to  a  brighter  train  of 
thought.  The  journaHst  sometimes  rises  to  a  position  of  wealth 
and  honour,  not  only  as  an  editor,  but  also  as  a  newspaper  pro- 
prietor. If  he  have  the  tact  and  talent  to  start  a  really  successful 
journal  on  his  own  account,  he  comes  on  a  pecuniary  windfall ; 
such  a  one,  for  instance,  as  is  the  World  to  Mr.  Edmund  Yates. 
This,  of  course,  is  an  idyllic  state  of  things  ;  where  the  author  is 
selling  and  profiting  by  his  own  wares  without  being  preyed  on 
unconscionably  by  publishers  and  middle-men. 

But  if  it  is  comparatively  rare  that  the  functions  of  author  and 
publisher  can  be  united  in  one  man,  it  is  not  so,  as  we  have 
already  hinted,  in  regard  to  the  functions  incidental  to  the  two 
divisions  of  the  writer's  profession — literature  and  journalism. 
Many  men  are  able  to  practise  at  once  in  the  one  and  the  other, 
and  this  capability  lightens  up  some  of  the  gloomier  facts  we  have 
noted  in  a  separate  consideration  of  the  two  branches  of  the  career. 
The  two  things  work  together,  as  nearly  every  writer  knows.  The 
votary  of  literature,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  have  used  the  word, 
may  turn  his  hand  to  just  so  much  journalism  as  will  keep  "  the 
pot  boiUng  ;  "  while  the  journalist  pleasantly  and  profitably  stops 
the  rapid  and  ephemeral  exercise  of  his  anonymous  pen,  to  indite 


48  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

something  of  a  graver  or  more  imaginative  order  to  which  he  has 
the  novel  satisfaction  of  appending  his  name. 

The  following  memorandum,  which  has  been  supplied  to  us  by 
a  young  litterateur,  whose  experience  may  be  taken  as  representa- 
tive of  that  of  a  fairly  successful  and  industrious  member  of  his 
profession,  will  not  be  without  an  interest  for  those  who  are  about 
to  adopt  literature  as  a  career : — 

"  At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  having  scribbled  in  a  purposeless, 
unprofessional  way  for  several  years,  I  suffered  a  reverse  of  fortune 
which  made  me  exceedingly  anxious  to  increase  my  diminished 
private  means.  Literature  seemed  the  only  thing  ready  to  hand. 
I  consulted  two  or  three  friends  who  already  held  nlore  or  less 
prominent  positions  on  the  press,  and  I  found  that  the  more 
successful  they  were  the  more  hopeless  was  the  prospect  they  held 
out  of  my  chances  of  making  money,  even  in  the  most  moderate 
amounts.  This  I  thought  rather  strange,  but  I  remembered  that 
the  author  of  the  celebrated  crutch  and  stick  saying  was  Walter 
Scott,  who  made,  all  the  same,  a  gigantic  fortune  by  his  pen,  and 
I  determined  to  show  my  discouraging  advisers  what  I  could  do. 
I  was  told  that  the  '  Society  papers  '  paid  better  than  any  others, 
and  that  there  was  more  opening  on  them  than  on  the  older 
journals,  which  had  already  a  huge  literary  connexion.  This  I 
found  to  be  the  fact,  and,  although  I  tried  valiantly  to  get  a  market 
for  serious  work,  it  had  far  less  acceptance  than  had  the   *  trifles 


Founds,  Shillings y  and  Pence.  49 

light  as  air'  which  I  tossed  off  in  other  directions.  I  had  several 
introductions  to  editors — and  they  ended  in  nothing  :  my  work 
was  my  only  introduction  to  the  papers  on  which  I  got  employ- 
ment— a  fact  which  I  recommend  to  the  notice  of  the  amateurs 
for  whose  benefit  you  are  writing.  I  find  that  I  have  kept  a 
record  of  my  third  year's  labour,  I  had  about  200  paragraphs 
in  The  World ;  a  still  greater  number,  and  ten  articles  besides,  in 
another  society  paper  ;  thirty  paragraphs  in  Truth  ;  five  articles  in 
The  Queen;  three  articles  in  The  Spectator;  a  poem  in  Good 
Words ;  a  poem  in  The  Quiver ;  thirty-five  articles  in  different 
monthly  magazines ;  fifty-two  columns  of  London  correspondence 
in  a  provincial  paper  (at  1 2S.  6d.  a  column) ;  twenty-six  London 
letters  in  a  Colonial  paper  (at  10s.  a  letter) ;  and  a  few  odds  and 
ends  besides.  These  are  the  accepted  contributions,  but  they 
represent  little  more  than  half  of  that  which  I  actually  wrote — 
the  balance  having  missed  fire.  My  total  proceeds  were 
;^247  135'.  2d.  I  often  worked  twelve  hours  a  day,  and  I  never 
had  a  week's  holiday.  But,  as  you  see,  if  I  had  not  possessed  a 
trifle  of  my  own,  I  could  not  have  kept  a  decent  roof  over  my 
family's  head.  And  yet  I  have  often  been  told  by  other  struggling 
men  that  I  am  exceptionally  lucky." 

From  this  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  the  writer  had  the 
advantage  of  practice  in  both  literature  and  journafism  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  lest  the  results  should  be  unduly  deterrent,  let  us  note 

C 


50  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

that  he  had  no  work  on  a  daily,  nor  had  he  any  subject  to  treat  that 
was  pecuharly  his  own.  The  man  with  a  specialty,  the  art  critic, 
or  the  dramatic  critic,  for  instance,  if  he  be  really  proficient,  has 
some  advantages  over  his  more  versatile  brother ;  he  may  have  to 
compete  very  hard  for  his  post,  but,  once  having  obtained  it,  he 
has  a  monopoly  on  the  particular  paper  with  which  he  is  con- 
nected.    Moreover,  he  is  sometimes  able  in  a  sense  to  duplicate 

his  work,  as  did  Mr.  Tom  Taylor, 
^^  "  \  /^^"^^  ^  ^  fo^  instance,  when  he  criticised 
'V'^^^^       ^^^/^-^""'^'^V^   pictures  in  both  the  Graphic  and 

The  Times.  And  who  shall  say 
that  there  are  no  good  incomes  to  be  made  on  newspapers  while 
mentioning  the  name  of  the  late  editor  of  Punch  ? 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Fleet  Street  journahst  has 
frequently,  in  addition  to  his  London  work,  profitable  employment 
on  a  country  paper.  A  great  many  leaders  in  the  provincials  are 
the  work  of  metropolitan  pens ;  and  the  London  correspondence 
also  that  appears  in  them  affords  scope  for  a  good  deal  of  literary 
labour  and  enterprise.  Many  of  these  journals  contain  excellent 
personal  information,  which  was,  in  fact,  the  natural  precursor  of 
the  society  journals — these  latter  supplying  a  place  which  the 
I^ondon  dailies  failed  to  fill.  There  is,  no  doubt,  an  enormous 
amount  of  trash  written  in  the  shape  of  London  letters  and 
gossip ;  but  there  is  also  much  interesting  and  good  matter,  such 


Pounds,  Shillings,  and  Pence.  5 1 

as  it  is  natural  enough  that  people  should  like  to  read.  A  few 
country  papers  have  a  special  wire,  and  telegraph  every  night  a 
London  letter  which  contains  "  tips"  usually  sent  in,  as  are  the 
paragraphs  in  the  society  papers,  not  by  one  man,  but  by  many. 
Some  of  these  letters  cost  the  proprietors  from  ^1,000  tO;^2,ooo 
a  year.  It  sometimes  happens — Mr.  Lucy's  is  a  case  in  point — 
that  one  man  is  able  enough  to  take  entire  charge  of  a  letter  of  the 
kind,  and  by  manifolding  it  for  papers  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  can  afford  to  do  his  work  really  well  and  to  supply  it 
cheaply,  at  the  same  time  securing  a  fair  income.  Then,  again, 
there  is  the  London  correspondentship  for  the  Colonies,  for  the 
United  States,  and  all  parts  of  the  Continent.  Some  of  these  posts 
are  among  the  prizes  of  literature,  ^  /  . 

and  they  fall  to  such  men  as  Mr.    M         y     /    iJTrn  J/izAA^ 
Joseph  Hatton,  a  knight  of  the       C^-^^f/U^  i^i^^^^i 
pen  who  has  fought  and  won  in    * 

nearly  every  field  of  letters,  and  who  is  the  English  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Times. 

If  the  reader  should  think  that  our  illustrations  in  this  chapter 
have  been  somewhat  conflicting,  or  complain  that  we  arrive  at  no 
definite  deductions,  we,  for  our  part,  must  own  to  having  been  met 
on  our  inquiry  by  many  contradictions.  But  we  shall  not  go  far 
wrong,  nor  raise  false  hopes  or  false  fears,  if  we  sum  up  by  saying  of 
the  incomes  made  by  the  writers  in  newspapers  and  magazines : 


5  2  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

Sufficient  they  may  be ;  fair,  according  to  the  infallible  balance  of 
supply  and  demand,  they  must  be ;  but  they  are  seldom  brilliant. 
There  is  probably  bread  to  be  had,  in  requital  of  industry  and  of 
the  indispensable  capacity,  for  all  who  are  likely  to  make  a 
serious  profession  of  letters  ;  but  there  are  few — very  few — fortunes 
to  be  won. 


k^- 


1%M- 


^  JOURNALISM  AS  A  CAREER. 

I.  The  Fair  Side. 

T  is  more  effective  to  take  the  extreme 
uplands  or  lowlands  of  exaggeration  than 
the  vm  media  of  fact.  Consequently  those 
who  have  treated  of  journalism  and  litera- 
ture as  a  profession  have  generally  been 
tempted  to  strike  their  readers'  fancy  by  a 
picturesque  view  of  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  a  calling  in  which  the 
pros  and  cons  are  in  truth  tolerably  balanced.  We  all  know  the 
starving  author  of  tradition ;  and  if  he  is  now  somewhat  out  of 
date  we  have  still  the  constant  repetition  of  a  facile  and  rather 
wearisomely  conventional  joke  by  which  the  labours  of  a  labourer 
who  is,  like  all  others,  worthy  of  his  hire,  appear  as  a  drug  in  the 
market — witness  the  inevitable  waste-paper  basket  which  is  thrown 
at  his  head  by  Punch  and  other  humourists  when  subjects  for 
jesting  flag.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  the  couleur  de  rose 
view  which  has  recently  been  asserted  in  one  or  two  quarters,  not, 


54  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

of  course,  with  an  intention  to  mislead,  but  decidedly  with  the 
effect  of  doing  so,  and  this  probably  with  serious  consequences. 
Our  own  task  is  to  state  advantages  and  disadvantages  with  the 
single  intention  of  making  the  truth  stand  forth,  to  encourage  what 
is  now  the  widespread  ambition  of  having  a  voice  in  the  great 
expression  of  public  opinion,  but  to  avoid  the  grave  responsibility 
of  leading  the  inexperienced  to  cast  themselves  blindfold  into  a 
career  in  which  they  may  be  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  fair 
surface  being  the  uppermost,  we  shall  consider  it  first,  and  then 
proceed  to  turn  it  over  and  to  expose  with  all  frankness  the  seamy 
under-side. 

The  advantages  which  journalism  has  at  first  sight  over  all  other 
professions  are  very  obvious,  and  may  be  stated  in  the  words  of 
Mr.  Anthony  Trollope  and  Mr,  James  Payn.  "  It  is,"  says  the 
former,  "a  business  which  has  its  allurements.  It  requires  no 
capital,  no  special  education,  and  may  be  taken  up  at  any  time 
without  a  moment's  delay.  If  a  man  can  command  a  table,  a 
chair,  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  he  can  commence  his  trade  as  a  literary 
man.  It  is  thus  that  aspirants  generally  do  commence  it." 
"  There  are,"  says  Mr,  Payn,  "  hundreds  of  clever  young  men  who 
are  now  living  at  home  and  doing  nothing,  who  might  be  earning 
very  tolerable  incomes  by  their  pens  if  they  only  knew  how." 
While  accepting  these  statements  as  containing  part-truths,  it  is 
necessary  for  a  moment  to  give  them  certain  limitations  which 


'Journalism  as  a  Career.  ^^ 

modify  but  do  not  refute  the  contention  of  the  two  authors.  We 
grant  that  it  is  possible  for  the  hundreds  of  clever  young  men  who 
are  able  to  continue  to  "  live  at  home,"  and  who  have  no  impera- 
tive necessity  for  doing  something  else,  to  make  incomes  which  shall 
be  eminently  "  tolerable  "  under  the  circumstances.  Journalism 
on  these  conditions  can  hardly  be  called  a  career,  or — what  Mr. 
Trollope  calls  it — a  trade.  It  is  a  part-profession,  an  auxiliary  of 
more  or  less  value  and  effectiveness  in  proportion  to  the  cleverness 
possessed  by  the  young  men  in  question.  As  for  the  training,  it 
is  certainly  not  indispensable  before  making  a  first  attempt ;  but 
every  rejection  which  the  young  man  undergoes  (and  he  will  have 
many  to  endure)  is  a  part  of  his  training,  and  a  part  which  he 
would  find  very  hard  to  bear  if  he  were  entirely  dependent  on  his 
pen.  When  Mr.  Anthony  Trol- 
lope gives  us  the  financial  state-  >^^  y^  y)  /'^/02  >, 
ment  already  quoted  of  the  results  '-'^-•^^  >^:»n/ 
of  his  first  years  of  labour,  is  he 

not  in  fact  describing  a  particularly  hard  period  of  literary  novice- 
ship — a  period  which  might  be  full  of  the  bitterest  privations, 
occurring  as  it  does  at  a  time  of  life  when  a  man  is  no  longer 
enjoying  the  parental  care  and  support  which  are  cheerfully 
accorded  to  him  in  earlier  years  ?  That  such  a  noviceship  and 
preparation  were  tolerable,  or  perhaps  possible,  to  Mr.  Trollope  is 
simply  due  to  the  fact  that  he  held  at  the  time  a  position  in  the 


56  'Journals  and  yournaHsm. 

Post-office  which  was  practically  his  profession,  i.e.,  his  means  of 
support,  and  hence  that  he  was  able  to  follow  literature  for  a  time 
as  an  amateur.  When  he  talks  of  an  aspirant  "commencing  his 
trade  "  with  "  a  chair,  pen,  ink,  and  paper,"  his  own  experience 
might  have  convinced  him  that  it  is  hardly  a  trade  which 
is  commenced  with  that  stock,  but  rather  a  training  for  a 
trade.  The  same  holds  good  with  Thackeray,  only  that  instead  of 
a  place  in  the  Post-office  he  had  at  his  back  a  small  private  fortune, 
the  larger  part  of  which  he  devoted  to  buying  literary  experience — in 
other  words,  he  lost  it  in  the  attempt  to  float  a  couple  of  newspapers. 
Another  novelist  and  journalist,  Mr.  Edmund  Yates,  was,  like 
Mr.  Anthony  Trollope,  in  the  Post-office,  and  thus  able  to  exercise 
his  "prentice  hand"  at  letters  until  such  time  as  they  should 

yield  him  not  only  support  but 
"1^^^^  fortune.  Mr.  Wilkie  ColUns,  an- 
other ultimately  successful  mas- 
ter of  fiction,  had  the  support  of 
his  father's  help  in  the  tea-trade  first  and  afterwards  in  the  law, 
while  his  literary  talents  were  under  trial.  It  would  certainly  seem, 
then,  that  technical  training,  with  the  sacrifice  of  time  and  money 
which  it  necessarily  implies,  is  generally  deferred  rather  than  fore- 
gone ;  that  no  special  success,  at  any  rate,  is  possible  without  it ; 
and  that  even  the  humbler  branches  of  journalism  can  ill  afford  to 
dispense  with  it.     No  one,   for  instance,  who  has  read  Charles 


'yournal'wn  as  a  Career.     '  57 

Dickens's  description  of  the  difficulties  of  mastering  short-hand 
related  in  the  person  of  David  Copperfield — the  long  study,  the 
fever  in  which  Traddles's  declamation  and  "  my  aunt's  "  "  hear, 
hear,"  were  reported,  and  the  impossibility  of  reading  the  report 
when  completed — will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  science  of 
stenography,  at  least,  needs  no  technical  preparation. 

Having  made  these  modifications — a  duty  we  feel  bound  to 
perform  even  at  the  expense  of  our  point — we  conceive  that  there 
remains  in  the  modified  version  of  the  statements  quoted  an 
advantage  for  the  beginner  in  literature  which  justifies  us  in  even 
making  a  parade  of  them,  and  which  will  be  missed  by  the 
beginner  in  almost  any  other  career.  If  it  has  been  necessary 
to  guard  the  amateur  against  the  supposition  that  without  training, 
and  before  he  is  out  of  his  teens,  he  can  make  a  good  and  support- 
ing income  by  scribbling,  we  must  still  point  out  that  he  possesses 
the  opportunity  afforded  by  hardly  another  profession,  of  carrying 
on  his  training  and  his  trade  at  the  same  moment.  Even  suppos- 
ing that  for  the  first  five  years  of  his  labour  all  he  wrote  were 
rejected,  or  printed  without  remuneration,  he  would  be  in  no 
worse  position  than  his  neighbour  who  is  articled  to  a  solicitor 
but  his  MSS.,  if  he  has  the  making  of  a  literary  man  in  him  at  all, 
will  not  be  treated  so  badly  as  that.  Anthony  Trollope's  first  year's 
real  return  for  his  literary  labour  was  the  experience  he  gained  in 
it,  and  with  only  that  in  almost  any  other  profession  he  would 

c  2 


5  8  'Journals  and  Jourjialism. 

have  had  to  be  satisfied ;  but,  as  it  was,  he  made  a  few  pounds 
besides.  Thus  the  Uterary  novice  may  know  that  even  while  he  is 
educating  himself  he  can  earn  an  income  which,  though  it  will  be 
insufficient  to  maintain  him  except  in  a  Grub-street  garret,  will  at 
any  rate  contribute  towards  his  support  during  a  period  in  which 
he  would  otherwise  be  more  likely  than  not  to  depend  for  that 
support  wholly  on  his  private  resources.  If  Mr.  Payn  and  Mr. 
Trollope  had  borrowed  the  words  of  a  recent  writer  in  Belgravia, 
who  said,  "  Anyone  can  scribble — if  he  only  knows  how  to  spell ; 
but  writing  is  an  art — one  of  the  Fine  Arts,"  and  had  added  that 
even  scribbling,  if  fairly  clever,  is  remunerated  after  a  fashion, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  trains  the  pen — they  would  perhaps  have 
stated  their  case  in  a  more  strictly  accurate  and  intelligent  way. 
And  even  this  text  would  have  justified  them,  and  justifies  us,  in 
preaching  the  superiority  of  letters  over  almost  any  other  career 
in  its  beginnings. 

We  have  already  drawn  a  distinction  between  journalism  and 
other  departments  of  letters.  The  apprenticeship  over  and  a  fair 
success  once  attained,  how  does  this  branch  of  literature  look 
as  a  career  ?  That  it  is  interesting,  that  it  has  the  attraction  of  a 
variety  of  thoughts  and  feelings,  that  it  brings  a  man  into  close 
connection  with  all  the  moving  principles  and  large  ideas  of  his 
day,  is  sufficient  reason  why  it  should  be  loved.  It  compares 
temptingly  in  this  respect  with  those  commercial  pursuits  which 


Journalism  as  a  Career,  59 

are  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  the  necessary  callings  of 
gentlemen.  The  banker  must  needs  think  money  during  the 
whole  of  his  working  day,  the  tea-dealer  perforce  thinks  tea,  and 
the  wine-merchant  wine ;  politics,  literature,  social  interests, 
science  and  art  are  with  them  extra-professional,  if,  indeed,  business 
be  not  so  paramount  as  to  drive  these  almost  entirely  from  the 
field  of  thought.  And  the  liberal  vocations  are  Hmited  more  or 
less  to  their  own  spccialite  ;  the  artist  is  not  called  upon  to  know 
much  about  letters,  the  politician  may  be  profoundly  ignorant  of 
painting,  the  savant  generally  considers  himself  privileged  to  hold 
politics  in  supreme  contempt,  and  the  musician  above  all  is  apt  to 
dispense  himself  from  the  most  ordinary  interest  in  everything 
that  is  not  musical.  Now,  the  litterateur  is  not  only  encouraged 
but  obliged  to  be  various  ;  well  for  him ;  he  is  so  much  the  more 
a  man;  and  even  if  he  choose  some  special  "line"  for  the  labours 
of  his  pen,  if  he  devote  the  best  of  his  powers  to  "knowing 
everything  of  something,"  he  yet  multiplies  his  resources,  interests, 
and  pleasures  by  "  knowing  something  of  everything." 

The  earnest  physician  holds  his  profession  to  be  a  noble  one 
because  it  saves  individual  lives,  but  the  journalist's  career  will 
give  him  the  opportunity  of  saving  nations  by  his  advocacy  of 
peace  at  a  time  when  war  is  at  once  imminent  and  unnecessary. 
He  is  the  mainstay  of  the  reformer  and  of  the  philanthropist, 
who  would  labour  in  vain  if  unassisted  by  the  soldier  of  the 


6o  journals  and  yournahsm. 

pen.     In  a   hundred  instances  journals   have   been  the   means 

of  raising  large  funds  to  meet  emergencies  of  distress.     We  find 

even  a  light  paper  like  the  Paris  Figaro  becoming  the  centre  of 

a  widespread  organization  for  the  relief  of  indigence   during  a 

winter  of  extreme  severity.     And  an  Irish  priest  writes  from  the 

midst    of  a   starving   population   to   the    correspondent   of  the 

paper  he  names :  "  But    for    you    and    the   Daily    Telegraph    I 

know  not  how  under  Heaven  I  could  have  stayed  famine  here 

To  my  last  breath  shall  I  remember  you  with  undying  affection  and 

gratitude."     And  in  like  manner,  twenty  years  ago,  The  Times's 

strenuous  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  English  houseless  poor  in  a 

cold  season  resulted  in  a  handsome  sum  for  their  relief     Scarcely 

less  practical  a  charity  is  that  which  is  performed  by  the  press 

when  it  exposes  the  frauds  that  would  gain  currency  did  they 

escape  its  vigilance.     This  is  a  duty  which  has  its  dangers,  as  was 

shown  for  instance  in  1841,  when  The  Times  was  instrumental  in 

detecting  a  scheme  organized  by  a  company  to  defraud  by  forgery 

all  the  influential  bankers  of  Europe,  and  when  an  exposure  in  its 

columns  brought  on  the  proprietors  an  action  for  libel,  Boyle  v. 

.  Lawson,  in  which  our  law  technically  compelled  the  jury  to  give 

a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff,  with  one  farthing  damages.    A  European 

subscription  was  set  on  foot  to  reimburse  the  proprietors  for  their 

immense  outlay  in  legal  expenses,  but  they  declined  the  money, 


"Journalism  as  a  Career.  6 1 

and  the  greater  portion  of  it  was  finally  spent  in  establishing 
Times  scholarships  for  Oxford  and  Cambridge  at  Christ's  Hosjwtal 
and  the  City  of  London  School.  Such  are  some  of  the  lofty  and 
hmiianitarian  inducements  to  enter  the  profession  of  letters  ;  while 
the  ardent  politician,  if  he  be  entrusted  with  the  direction  of  an 
important  paper,  wields,  as  was  once  said  of  the  editor  of  The 
TitJtes,  "  a  power  as  great  as  that  of  Governments  and  Legislatures." 
Moreover,  in  all  that  he  writes  he  has  the  inspiration  not  only  of 
his  cause,  but  of  knowing  that  he  addresses  an  audience  such  as 
his  voice,  were  he  an  orator,  could  never  cover — to  the  number,  it 
may  be,  of  half-a-million.  Nor  are  the  incentives  of  the  political 
partizan  wanting  in  the  journalist  whose  'predilection  is  for  art, 
and  who  cares  to  advance  the  interests  of  this  or  that  school  of 
painting  ;  or  whose  passion  is  literature  or  music,  and  who  wishes 
to  mould  the  public  taste  on  his  own  :  or  who,  as  a  private  friend, 
desires  to  say  a  good  word  for  the  artist,  the  actor,  or  the  author 
whose  personality  he  loves,  and  whose  work  merits  the  recognition. 
These  are  pleasures  keen  enough  to  make  life  worth  living,  and 
they  are  peculiar  to  the  literary  career. 

And  journalism  has  not  only  its  own  rewards  ;  it  is  also  "  a 
stepping-stone  to  higher  things,"  and  to  more  lucrative  things. 
Just  as  literature,  apart  from  journalism,  brought  Bulwer  a  barony, 
and  Barry  Cornwall  and  Forstcr  profitable  Lunacy  Commissioner- 


62  journals  and  'Journalism, 

-^  rt  ships,  and  just  as  Mr.  Edward 

/  y   "^Va^   A^'  Jenkins,  in  1874,   had  no  other 

^/?/ W/  ^^^"^^^^^"^   '       introduction  to    the  electors  of 

'  "*  Dundee  than  "  Ginx's  Baby,"  so 

also  has  journalism  pure  and  simple  its  extraneous  distinctions  and 

rewards.      In   the   present   Parliament    the    profession   is   more 

numerously  and  strongly  represented  than   it  ever  was  before. 

Mr.    Passmore   Edwards,  who   is  proprietor  of  the  Echo  and  of 

a  building  journal,  and  to  whom  Mr,  Gladstone  recently  wrote, 

"  You  have  been  surpassed  by  none  in  the  courage  and  constancy 

with  which  you  have  contended  through  evil  times  for  a  just 

policy  abroad,"  sits  for  Salisbury ;  while  an  ex-editor  of  the  Echo^ 

Mr.  Arthur  Arnold,  a  brother  of  Mr.  Edwin  Arnold  of  the  Daily 

Telegraphy  represents  Salford.      Newcastle-on-Tyne  has  given  to 

Mr,    Joseph   Cowen,    proprietor 
/^{}         _  of     the      spiritedly     conducted 

*^  C--<^     Newcastle  Chronicle,  a  colleague 

in    Mr.    Ashton      Dilke,      pro- 
prietor   of  the  Weekly  Dispatch, 
^^  y  ^f—y /"^^  ^^      ^^^     brother     of    Sir     Charles 
K.^^/^  /t-^=>»»  ^^     Dilke,  Chelsea's  senior  member, 

himself  the  owner  of  the 
Athenceu?n.  Mr.  Courtney,  of  The  Times,  retains  his  seat  for 
Liskeard,  and  the  proprietor  of  that  paper  is  still  the  member  for 


'Journalism  as  a  Career,  63 

Berks.  Mr.  Labouchere,  part  proprietor  of  the  Daily  News  and 
editor  of  Truths  divides  the  representation  of  Northampton  with 
Mr.  Bradlaugh,  who  projected  the  National  Reformer.  South- 
East  Lancashire  sends  to  ParHament,  in  the  person  of  Mr. 
WiUiam  Agnew,  not  merely  a  magnate  among  picture  dealers,  but 
one  of  the  proprietors  of  Punch.  Mr.  Beresford-Hope  owns 
the  Saturday  Revieza.  Mr.  Macliver,  who  won  at  Plymouth,  is 
the  proprietor  of  the  spirited  Western  Daily  Press.  Ireland 
sends  a  strong  contingent,  among  whom  are  Mr.  Edward 
Dwyer  Gray,    of  the   FreeiJian^s 

Journal :  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan,  late         /^/^..^rTr;} — y  ^^ 
editor  of  the  Nation;  his    bro-     ^7^ .  ft^^t^^^^^ "^ 
ther,    T.    D.    Sullivan,  now    the 
editor    and    proprietor    of   that 
paper, and  Mr.  Sexton,  the  latter's 


associate    editor ;    Mr.    T.     P.  '       j    y{    /  /y  '    j 

O'Connor,  author  of  the  scathing  '  K*k<'U^-<^^  . 

Life  of  Lord  Beaconsfield;  Mr.  F. 

H.    O'Donnell,  a   hard-working       ^    ^  /fL.^  %^ 

journalist  on  the  London  press  ;    i/\  ^.      ^  ^^«rx*-'^-*-'<^'^7 

Mr.  Lysaght  Finigan,  Mr.  Parnell's 

"  lieutenant "  —  and   Mr.  Justin 

McCarthy,     novelist,     historian,  ^.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

and  leader-writer  on  the  Daily 


64  'Journals  and  yournalism. 

News.  Mr.  Alfred  Austin,  indeed,  whose  name  has  long  been 
rescued  from  the  anonymity  of  leader-writing  or  book-reviewing  in 
the  Standard  by  achievements  in  the  open  literary  world,  tried  for 
a  seat  and  failed ;  so  did  Mr.  Thomas  Gibson  Bowles,  of  Vanity 
Fair ;  so  did  Mr.  John  Morley,  editor  of  the  Fortnightly  and  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette;  and  so  did  Sir  Algernon  Borthwick,  of  the 
Morning  Post,  who  was  consoled  by  a  knighthood  for  his  narrow 
electoral  defeat.  Some  of  these  names — those  belonging  to  the 
inheritors  of  wealthy  newspaper  proprietorships,  for  instance— do 
little  to  point  our  moral ;  but  there  are  others  among  them 
which  rejDresent  men  who  do  distinctly  owe  to  their  connection 
with  the  journalistic  world,  and  to  it  alone,  their  position  in  life 
and  in  the  legislature. 

Then,  again,  journalism  has  supported  men  while  they  kept 
terms  and  were  called  to  the  bar ;  witness,  as  one  among  many, 
the  late  Hepworth  Dixon,  who  also  obtained  temporary  but 
lucrative  Exhibition  Commissionerships,  and  was,  moreover, 
invited  to  contest  Marylebone  in  1868.  Once  a  barrister,  the 
journalist  may  go  on  to  higher  things  still,  even  till  he  shall  occupy 
the  woolsack  itself,  like  Lord  Chancellor  Campbell,  who  walked 
from  Scotland  with  the  traditional  trifle  in  his  pocket  to  begin 
life  as  a  reporter  on  the  Morning  Chronicle.  The  same  paper 
gave  the  same  employment  to  Dickens,  who,  like  many  others, 
passed  from  this  more  mechanical  rank  of  journalism,  not  to  the 


yoiirnalism  as  a  Career.  65 

law,  but  to  authorship — to  a  more  sympathetic,  human,  and 
briUiant  fame.  Such  emphatically  was  his  who,  young  and  utterly 
alone  in  the  world,  unhelped  by  word  or  act  of  man,  serving 
letters  alone  and  aided  by  them  only,  reached  an  unshared 
throne  of  renown  in  the  memory  and  love  of  men. 


11.  The   Seamy   Side, 


AVING  examined  the  fair  side,  we  proceed 
to  explore  the  seamy.  And  on  turning 
up  the  other  surface,  one  sees  at  a 
glance  that  what  was  on  the  first  sight  an 
ornament,  shows  through  the  stuff,  and 
appears  here  with  a  reverse  and  a  very 
ugly  effect.  In  other  words,  the  gain 
of  the  journalistic  beginner  in  being  able 
to  dispense  in  part  with  an  apprenticeship,  and  in  requiring  no 
heavy  stock-in-trade  before  he  begins,  or  tries  to  begin,  business, 
has,  from  another  point  of  view  than  that  which  we  took  in 
the  last  chapter,  its  serious  disadvantages.  For  this  very  ease, 
and  this  partial  exemption  from  the  responsibilities  and  difficulties 
of  other  callings,  inevitably  give  to  literature  somewhat  of  the 
character  of  a  fis-aller.  A  boy  is  rarely  brought  up  to  a  pro- 
fession for  which  a  bringing  up  does  not  seem  a  necessity ;  he 
rather  turns  to  it  in  after  years  when  he  has  failed  elsewhere, 
through  loss  of  fortune,  through  incapacity  in  the  calling  chosen 
for  him,  or  because  that  calling  has  disappointed  his  hopes. 
And,  besides  being  a  pis-aller  through  its  exemption  from  training, 


'Journalism  as  a  Career.  67 

literature  is  calculated  to  be  an  over-crowded  profession  through 
its  exemption  from  the  usual  preliminary  sacrifice  of  capital — two 
immunities  which  must  always  tend  to  keep  down  the  profits  of 
literary  work.  Moreover,  they  induce  a  large  number  of  people 
to  make  literature  a  part-career,  thus  damaging  it  for  those  who 
have  no  other  means  of  support.  With  far  more  justice  than  the 
tradesman  could  the  journalist  cry  out  against  the  Government 
Office  men,  whose  contributions  (and  on  official  paper  too  !)  pour 
into  the  editorial  letter-boxes  of  London ;  but  he  does  not  do  so ; 
he  frankly  accepts  the  conditions  of  his  calling,  though  he  may 
momentarily  regret,  when  he  hears  of  men  with  large  public  or 
private  incomes  writing  at  a  price  which  entails  semi-starvation 
if  entirely  depended  on  for  support,  that  there  is  not  a  little  more 
trade  unionism  among  authors.  And  yet,  curiously  enough,  it  is 
exactly  these  semi-professionals  whom  we  have  heard  denouncing 
in  the  most  unmeasured  terms  the  miserable  pittance  to  be 
earned  on  the  press — a  proceeding  which  always  reminds  us  of 
the  case  of  the  man  who,  having  murdered  his  father  and  mother, 
appealed  to  the  court  for  mercy  because  he  was  an  orphan. 

Those  who  are  mentally  or  physically  incapable  of  hard  work, 
will  find  a  seamy  side  indeed  to  the  journalistic  career.  Above 
all  things  it  is  laborious — not  as  practised  in  the  ad  libitum 
manner  of  the  beginner,  who  may  or  may  not,  as  he  feels  inclined, 
produce  his  day's  task;    but  as  followed    by  the  professional 


68  journals  and  Journalism. 

journalist,  who  has  achieved,  say,  the  somewhat  eminent  success 
of  a  post  on  the  staff  of  a  fairly  good  daily  paper.  In  that 
position  an  amount  of  application  which  would  bring  name  and 
fame  to  the  barrister,  the  clergyman  or  the  doctor,  only  suffices 
for  the  bare  fulfilment  of  his  duty.  Say  he  is  a  special  corre- 
spondent ;  his  fate  is  as  little  in  his  own  hands  as  is  that  of  the 
Jesuit  priest  whom  we  have  been  taught  to  commiserate,  because 
he  is  liable  to  be  ordered  by  his  general  to  change  his  address  from 
Mount  Street,  Berkeley  Square,  to  India,  or  China,  at  a  moment's 
notice.  The  newspaper  correspondent,  without  the  stimulus  of  a 
religious  motive,  but  simply  as  part  of  the  year's  labour  that 
secures  him  what  a  successful  barrister  would  hardly  call  a 
decently  good  income,  holds  himself  in  daily  readiness  to  start 
for  an  exhibition  in  Sydney,  or  a  royal  wedding  in  Vienna,  or  a 
funeral  at  Madrid ;  or  he  is  told  off  to  study  Nihilism  on  the  spot, 
in  a  Russian  mid-winter ;  or  sent  across  a  burning  African  desert 
on  perilous  enterprise;  nor  is  there  ever  a  battle  fought  without  his 
presence,  where  English  or  European  interests  are  involved.  And 
if  the  soldier  and  sailor  in  active  service  have  a  harder  time  than 
the  correspondent  who  accompanies  them,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  he  often  shares  their  risks — a  deadly  climate,  for  instance, 
is  as  fatal  to  him  as  to  them — but  gains  none  of  their  glory ;  that 
they  are  facing  perils  in  fulfilment  of  their  career,  and  he  only  as 
an  accident  of  his ;  and  that  whereas  they  retire  in  middle  life 


'Journalism  as  a  Career,  69 

with  half-pay  and  pensions,  and  often  with  titular  distinctions,  it 
was  never  known,  we  suppose,  that  a  newspaper  correspondent 
was  idle  till  he  came  to  the  long  obscurity  of  the  grave.  A  retired 
journalist,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word — that  is  to  say,  one  who 
retired  on  the  money  made  in  a  purely  journalistic  career — is  an 
individual  whose  acquaintance  we  have  yet  to  make. 

Of  course  there  are  members  of  a  newspaper  staff  who  stay 
at  home  at  ease.  Not  much  ease  either,  in  the  case,  for  instance, 
of  the  political  leader-writer,  who  turns  night  into  day  to  work 
upon  latest  information.  For  instance,  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy, 
before  he  was  elected  for  Longford,  was  a  diligent  attender  at  the 
House  of  Commons,  listening  in  the  gallery  for  the  last  word  of  a 
Ministerial  statement,  or  of  an  Opposition  attack;  and  then,  at 
perhaps  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  sitting  down  to  finish  the 
leader  which  the  readers  of  the  Daily  News  conned  over  at  break- 
fast, or  in  early  trains.  Or,  let  us  take  the  case  of  the  sub-editor, 
or  co-editor,  of  another  of  the  London  dailies,  whom  we  have  in 
mind.  He  is  so  chained  to  his  work  that  he  is  only  able  to  give  a 
dinner-party  or  to  dine  out  once  in  the  week  (a  limitation  which 
would  be  a  substantial  grievance  to  a  man  of  equal  eminence  in 
another  profession)  ;  and  on  this  solitary  festive  occasion  he  is  often 
obliged  to  leave  his  guests  or  his  hosts  to  write  a  leader  on  some 
unexpected  event.  He  has  only  one  morning — that  of  Saturday — 
in  which  he  can  take  the  solace  of  gun  or  line,  or  mere  country 


yo  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

air ;  not  only  must  he  be  up  late  at  night,  but  he  is  impatient 
to  rise  early  in  the  morning,  so  that  he  may  con  the  "latest 
intelligence  "  of  the  rival  dailies,  to  satisfy  himself  that  they  have 
not  outdone  his  own ;  his  brain  is  not  only  active  with  constant 
production,  but  worn  with  responsibility ;  and  his  annual  holiday, 
especially  if  the  political  times  are  stirring,  is  none  too  long. 

Nor    does    the    hard    labour    of  the   sub-editor,   the    special 

correspondent,  or  the  leader-writer  abate  one  jot  if  the  pinnacle  of 

the  profession— a  head  editorship— be  attained.     Let  us  see  how 

it  fared  with  him  who  sat  on  the  throne  of  journalism,  the  late  Mr. 

^  Delane.  "He  had,"  says  one  of  his 

yy  ^^J^  friends,   "the  instincts  of  family 

^/t'sJ^'y^'T^je^'Ct^,,^^      affection  almost  to  excess  ;  "   yet 

"  for  many  years  he  could  only  run 

down  on  Saturday  to  bury  himself  for  a  few  hours  in  his  Berkshire 
home,  domestic  life  in  town  being  obviously  out  of  the  question  for 
one  who  for  nearly  half  of  each  year  saw  the  sun  rise  every  morning, 
not  after  what  it  would  be  a  mockery  to  call  his  night's  rest,  but 
before  it.  He  was  a  warm  friend,  yet  how  few  were  the  hours  he 
could  devote  to  friendship  !  His  love  of  company  was  something 
more  than  the  natural  and  universal  preference  shown  by  educated 
men  for  what  is  called  good  society,  and  his  personal  qualities 
made  him  welcome  wherever  he  went ;  nevertheless,  when  he  joined 
a  friendly  circle  at  dinner,  as  soon  as  the  clock  struck  ten   he 


^Journalism  as  a  Career.  ji 

disappeared.  "Few,"  says  the  friend  already  referred  to,  **can 
estimate  what  it  was  for  Mr.  Delane  to  withdraw  as  unobservedly 
and  as  early  as  he  could  from  the  assembled  guests,  before  they 
had  joined  the  ladies,  to  spend  many  hours  selecting  materials, 
pruning  redundant  paragraphs,  fining  down  tedious  narratives, 
deciphering  manuscripts,  correcting  proofs,  harmonizing  discordant 
intelligence,  discovering  the  sense  of  telegraphic  riddles,  and  often 
finishing  by  sacrificing  the  editorial  labour  of  many  hours  to  make 
room  for  some  bulky  and  important,  but  very  late,  arrival,  that  must 
be  published,  at  whatever  cost."  And  this  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the 
huge  and  constant  responsibility  of  such  a  post — a  responsibility 
which  must  needs  have  its  own  inevitable  effect  upon  health. 
Of  course  there  is  only  one  Delane,  but  there  are  a  hundred  other 
editors  of  whom  the  same  tale  may  be  told  in  their  degree.  Of 
this  burden  on  journalistic  eminence,  however,  we  shall  say  no 
more  here,  as  the  subject  comes  within  the  scope  of  the  chapter 
headed  "  In  an  Editor's  Chair." 

Laborious,  scantily  paid,  the  profession  is  moreover  inglorious, 
for  all  but  the  very  few,  unless,  indeed,  we  accept  that  impersonal 
glory — the  consciousness  of  good  work  done  and  effective  power 
wielded  anonymously — as  the  satisfaction  of  the  natural  ambition. 
Many  a  journalist  spends  himself — the  best  of  his  intellect  and  the 
flower  of  his  days — in  speaking  to  a  public  which  is  and  will 
always   be   utterly   ignorant   of  his   individuality.      Nor    is    his 


72  'Journals  and  yournalism. 

anonymity  merely  that  of  a  writer  who  chooses  to  mask  his  person 
under  one  nam  de  plume  but  whose  work  is  aj^preciated  as  the 
utterance  of  some  one  man ;  it  is  his  fate  to  bury  himself  under 
a  far  profounder  incognito  than  this — nay,  he  breaks  up  his 
individuality  into  a  thousand  separate  fragments,  not  one  of  which 
bears  the  stamp  of  his  name.  The  man  is  scattered  and  lost,  the 
character  of  his  work  is  dissipated  by  dissemination,  and  nothing 
remains  but  the  influence  of  that  work  falling  as  it  may  when  sown 
broadcast ;  though,  by  an  apt  compensation,  the  impersonality  adds 
so  much  to  this  influence  that  few  who  are  journalists  at  heart 
are  found  to  lament  it.  A  newspaper  on  the  Continent,  for 
instance,  with  its  acknowledged  articles,  has  never  had  and  can 
never  have  the  weight  in  public  opinion  which  an  English  news- 
paper possesses.  The  unrivalled  position  of  the  English  press  is 
due  fully  as  much  to  its  anonymity  as  to  its  freedom.  But  this 
train  of  thought  brings  us  back  again  to  the  fairer  side  of  the 
literary  career ;  and  that  is  the  side  which  we  would  leave  upper- 
most after  all. 


/  ^: 


l-^ 


{\   oiik 


J^aJ^' 


^'m  AN  EDITOR'S  CHAIR,  f    ""I^Z^t 

N  editor  is  a  much-abused  man.  Con- 
tributors who  think  he  has  neglected  them, 
or  failed  to  appreciate  them,  or  "  cut  out " 
or  "  wTitten  in  "  where  he  should  not,  do 
not  spare  him ;  the  readers  of  his  paper 
do  not  measure  terms  when  any  single 
thing  in  his  many  columns  strikes  them  as 
false  in  taste  or  below  the  mark  in  intelligence.  Above  all  is  a 
slip  from  classical  English  proclaimed  aloud  with  a  kind  of  gay 
triumph  among  amateurs  who  have  infinite  leisure  for  the  criticism 
of  articles  hastily  revised,  perhaps  at  dead  of  night,  and  after  long 
hours  of  labour.  Cobbett  made  the  columns  of  T/ie  Times  his 
happy  hunting-grounds  for  grammatical  mistakes,  and  his  example 
has  been  followed  with  less  point  often  since  then.  This  is  a  very 
cheap  sort  of  censure,  and  only  shows  how  little  the  critic  has 
reflected  on  the  duties  and  difficulties  of  an  editor's  position. 
Nor  are  these  sufficiently  taken  to  heart  by  the  amateur  authors 
already  alluded  to  —  even  though  many  among  them  have  no 
greater  ambition  in  life  than  to  sit  in  an  editor's  chair.     In  their 

D 


n^  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

imagination  it  is  the  throne  of  an  easy  power  which  may  sway 
opinion  and  legislate  on  politics,  ethics,  and  the  arts.  They  have 
formed  no  idea  to  themselves  as  to  the  realities  of  work  and 
responsibility — realities  hardly  to  be  matched  in  any  other  position 
of  modern  life.     Of  the  editor's  labour  we  have  already  spoken 

labour  of  the  pen  at  actual  composition  and  at  endless  letter- 
writing;  labour  of  the  judgment  at  selection  and  decision;  labour 
of  the  eyes  at  proof-reading ;  labour  of  the  tongue  and  temper  in 
dealing  with  men  whom  for  various  reasons  it  is  necessary  to  see 
— from  the  Minister  of  State,  on  whose  leisure  he  must  attend,  to 
the  veriest  bore  who  is  too  useful  a  person  or  too  good-natured  a 
goose  to  affront ;  labour  of  the  journalistic  instinct  in  putting 
forward  what  will  "  take,"  and  of  the  intelligence  at  rapid  sifting 
of  conflicting  evidence  ; — and  all  this  in  the  hurry  of  going  to 
press  and  the  anxiety  to  obtain  the  latest  news,  which,  by  arriving 
in  unexpected  quantity,  or  faiUng  to  come  at  all,  may  throw 
out  all  calculations  at  the  last  moment.  But  great  as  is  the  strain 
of  this  hard  work,  it  is  light  compared  with  the  burden  of  re- 
sponsibility which  otherwise  attaches  to  his  post.  And  it  is  this 
responsibility,  rather  than  the  mere  manual  and  mental  labour, 
that  we  are  about  to  consider. 

'« When  I  remember,"  said  Lord  Beaconsfield  at  the  Edinburgh 
Corn  Exchange  in  1867,  "the  interests  of  these  British  Isles,  so  vast, 
so  various  and  so  complicated — when  I  even  recall  the  differences 


In  an   'Editor  s  Chair.  y^ 

of  race,  which,  however  blended,  leave  a  very  significant 
characteristic — when  I  recollect  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
population  of  the  United  Kingdom  rise  every  day  and  depend 
for  their  daily  sustenance  on  their  daily  labour — when  I  recollect 
the  delicate  nature  of  our  credit,  more  wonderful  in  my  opinion 
than  all  our  accumulated  capital — when  I  remember  that  it  is  on 
the  common  sense,  the  prudence,  and  the  courage  of  a  community 
thus  circumstanced  that  depends  the  fate  of  uncounted  millions 
in  ancient  provinces,  and  that  around  the  globe  there  is  a  circle 
of  domestic  settlements  that  watch  us  for  example  and  inspiration 
— when  I  know  that  not  a  sun  rises  on  a  British  Minister  that  does 
not  bring  him  care  and  even  inexpressible  anxiety — an  unexpected 
war,  a  disturbed  and  discontented  colony^  a  pestilence,  a  famine, 
a  mutiny,  a  declining  trade,  a  decaying  revenue,  a  collapse 
of  credit,  perhaps  some  insane  and  fantastic  conspiracy — I 
declare  I  very  often  wonder  where  there  is  the  strength  of 
heart  to  deal  with  such  colossal  circumstances."  We  shall  hardly 
be  exaggerating  if  we  draw  a  parallel  between  the  anxieties  of  the 
British  Minister,  thus  graphically  portrayed,  and  those  of  the 
British  editor  of  a  leading  daily  paper,  or  in  their  lesser  measure 
of  those  of  the  editors  of  important  weekly  papers  which  deal 
with  current  events  and  criticise  public  affairs.  Take  the  case  of 
the  editor  of  T/ie  Times,  as  an  extreme  but  still  a  representative 
one.     He  presides  over  his  staff  as  a  Premier  over  his  Cabinet, 


y6  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

and  on  his  choice  of  a  pohcy — a  choice  he  is  sometimes  called 
upon  to  make  in  a  hurry-^-the  fate  of  his  paper,  involving  a  capital 
of  hundreds  of  thousands,  in  some  cases  of  more  than  a  million, 
depends.     It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  a  powerful  organ  can 
always   carry   its    readers   with    it;    on    the   contrary,    they   are 
easily  alienated.      And  on  an  important  and  perhaps  involved 
national  question,  to  see  the  right  line,  to  take  it,  and  never  to 
falter  in  pursuing  it,  is  a  task  as  difficult  and  delicate  as  that  of 
any  public  man  in  any  capacity  whatever.     Differences  of  nation 
and  creed  concern  an  editor  perhaps  even  more  than  they  con- 
cern a  Minister  of  State.     Then  an  article  in  The  Times  produces 
fluctuations  in   the  money   market — the  paper  itself  fluctuating 
with  those    fluctuations — and  even  affects   the    national    credit. 
Nay,   upon  its  tone  towards  foreign  powers  often  depends  the 
tremendous  alternative  of  peace  or  war.     To  be  right  and  correct 
and  in  accord  with  enlightened  public  opinion  in  far  smaller  things 
than  these — in  the  merest  details  of  the  merest  trivialities — is  an 
essential  effort  on  the  part  of  an  editor ;  the  slightest  slip  may 
by    some    accidental    circumstance   assume    large    proportions, 
and  in  a  moment  his  credit  be  gone.     The  consciousness  of  this 
is  a  weight  incommensurately  greater  than  that  which  is  experienced 
in  other  professions — by  the  barrister  under  his  crucial  brief,  by 
the  doctor  under  his  most  critical  case.     The  one  may  lose  a 
single  client,  and  the  other  fail  over  a  single  patient,  but  the  world 


In  an  RJitors  Chair.  jj 

will  not  blame  either,  if  he  has  taken  proper  pains :  while  the 
failure  of  an  editor  is  apparent  to  the  whole  of  his  huge  con- 
stituency, and  the  chances  are  that  no  one  will  inquire  into  its 
cause,  or  care  whether  he  blundered  conscientiously  or  not. 

All  this  was  so  feelingly  put  forth  in  the  memoir  of  Mr.  Delane 
which  appeared  in  The  Times,  and  was,  as  we  know,  so  feelingly  read 
by  those  who  on  other  papers  bore  a  like  or  an  only  lighter  burden, 
that  we  cannot  do  better  than  reproduce  its  salient  passages  here : 
— "  An  editor,  it  has  often  been  said,  sometimes  not  very  seriously, 
must  know  everything.  He  must,  at  least,  never  be  found  at 
fault,  and  must  be  always  equal  to  the  occasion  as  to  the  personal 
characteristics,  the  concerns,  the  acts  and  utterances  of  those  who 
are  charged  with  the  government  of  this  great  Empire.  But  this 
is  only  one  of  many  points,  some  even  more  difficult,  because 
more  special  and  more  apt  to  lie  for  a  time  out  of  the  scope  of 
ordinary  vigilance.  Since  the  year  1841  the  world  has  seen 
unprecedented  improvements  in  naval  and  military  material  and 
tactics,  not  slowly  making  their  way  as  curiosities  that  might  take 
their  time,  but  forced  into  notice  by  frequent  reminders  of  their 
necessity.  Europe  has  seen  not  only  two  or  three  but  many 
revolutions,  wars  unexampled  for  their  dimensions,  their  cost  and 
their  results ;  many  dynasties  overthrown,  an  Empire  rise  and 
fall,  another  all  but  finally  dismembered  amid  a  scramble  over  the 
spoil,  and  several  re-unifications  effected  beyond  even  the  hopes 


yS  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

of  former  times.  Scientific  discovery  in  every  department  of 
knowledge  has  been  more  than  ever  active,  and  that  in  the  practical 
bearings  which  claim  the  notice  of  the  public  from  day  to  day. 
Never  before  have  the  earth  and  the  sea  so  freely  revealed  their 
resources  and  their  treasures.  Continents  supposed  to  be 
protected  from  intrusive  curiosity  by  intolerable  heat,  by  untam- 
able savagery,  or  by  national  jealousy,  have  been  traversed  in  ail 
directions  by  explorers  whose  volumes  have  been  as  familiar  as 
our  Continental  handbooks.  Within  this  period  have  been  the 
gold  discoveries  and  the  new  communities  founded  on  them.  It 
is  commonly  said  that  the  English  never  really  learn  geography  or 
history  till"  [these  are]  "  forced  upon  their  acquaintance  by  wars  or 
other  disasters.  This  shows  how  much  has  to  be  learnt  if  any  one 
has  to  keep  pace  with  the  times.  The  American  Civil  War,  our 
own  Indian  Mutiny,  and  the  occupation  of  France  by  the  German 
armies,  are  events  which  the  future  student  of  history  may  find 
comprised  in  a  few  paragraphs,  but  the  record  and  explanation 
of  them  day  by  day  for  many  months  involved  particulars  sufficient 
to  fill  many  bulky  volumes.  With  a  large  class  of  critics,  a  small 
mistake  counts  as  much  as  a  large  one,  but  everybody  is  liable  to 
make  mistakes,  and  an  editor  labours  under  the  additional  danger 
of  too  readily  accepting  the  words  of  writers,  some  of  whom  will 
always  be  too  full  of  their  ideas  to  pay  needful  attention  to  such 
matters.      These  are  days  of  Blue-books,  of,  enormous  correspo»- 


In  an  Editor  s  Chair. 


79 


dence,  of  tabular  returns,  of  statistics  twisted  into  every  possible 
form,  of  averages  and  differences  always  on  supposition  to  be 
carefully  remembered,  of  numerical  comparisons  everybody 
challenges  if  they  are  not  in  his  own  favour,  and  of  statements 
that  if  they  possess  the  least  novelty  or  other  interest  are  sure  to 
be  picked  to  pieces.  It  frequently  happens  that  a  long  night's 
work  has  to  be  thrown  away,  including  many  carefully-revised 
columns  of  printed  matter,  to  make  room  for  an  overgrown 
Parliamentary  debate,  a  budget  of  important  despatches,  or  a 
speech  made  in  the  provinces.  Often  has  it  been  said  at  two  in 
the  morning  that  a  very  good  paper  has  been  printed  and  destroyed 
to  make  way  for  a  paper  that  very  few  will  read — none,  perhaps, 
except  a  few  Parliamentary  gentlemen  looking  out  for  passages 
which,  if  they  don't  read  well,  must  have  been  incorrectly  reported. 
As  an  instance  of  what  may  happen  to  an  editor,  the  Quarterly 
Return  of  the  Revenue  once  came  with  an  enormous  error,  an 
addition  instead  of  subtraction,  or  idee  versa.  The  writer  who 
had  to  comment  on  it  jotted  down  the  principal  figures,  and  the 
totals,  which  were  unexpected,  and  returned  the  original  for  the 
jjrinters.  It  was  not  till  an  hour  after  midnight  that,  on  a  sight  of 
the  Return  in  print,  the  error  was  perceived,  and  corrected,  with- 
out a  word  of  remark,  by  the  paper.  Of  course,  the  comments 
had  to  be  re-written  and  carefully  secured  from  error.  .  .  .  The 
work  of  an  editor  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  have  had 


8o  'Journals  and  journalism. 

the  fortune  to  have  some  little  experience  of  it.  The  editor  of 
a  London  daily  newspaper  is  held  answerable  for  every  word  in  48, 
and  sometimes  60,  columns.  The  merest  slip  of  the  pen,  an  epithet 
too  much,  a  wrong  date,  a  name  misspelt,  or  with  a  wrong  initial 
before  it,  a  mistake  as  to  some  obscure  personage  only  too  glad  to 
seize  the  opportunity  of  showing  himself,  the  misinterpretation  of 
some  passage  perhaps  incapable  of  interpretation,  the  most  trifling 
offence  to  the  personal  or  national  susceptibility  of  those  who  do 
not  even  profess  to  care  for  the  feelings  of  others,  may  prove  not 
only  disagreeable  but  even  costly  mistakes :  but  they  are  among 
the  least  to  which  an  editor  is  liable.  As  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  a  night  may  bring  forth,  and  the  most  important  intelligence 
is  apt  to  be  the  latest,  it  will  often  find  him  with  none  to  share  his 
responsibility,  his  colleagues  being  either  pre-engaged  on  other 
matters  or  no  longer  at  hand.  The  editor  must  be  on  the  spot 
till  the  paper  is  sent  to  the  press,  and  make  decisions  on  which 
not  only  the  approval  of  the  British  public,  but  great  events,  and 
even  great  causes,  may  hang.  All  the  more  serious  part  of  his 
duties  has  to  be  discharged  at  the  end  of  a  long  day's  work,  a  day 
of  interruptions  and  conversations,  of  letter-reading  and  letter- 
writing,  when  mind  and  body  are  not  what  they  were  twelve  hours 
ago,  and  wearied  nature  is  putting  in  her  gentle  pleas.  An  editor 
cannot  husband  his  strength  for  the  night's  battle  by  comparative 
repose  in  the  solitude  of  a  study  or  the  freshness  of  green  fields- 


In  an  Editors  Chair.  8i 

He  must  see  the  world,  converse  with  its  foremost  or  busiest  actors, 
be  open  to  information,  and  on  guard  against  error.  All  this- 
ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  by  those  who  complain  that  journalism 
is  not  infallibly  accurate,  just,  and  agreeable.  Their  complaints 
are  like  those  of  the  Court  lord  who  found  fault  with  the  disagree- 
able necessities  of  warfare."  How  much  indeed  has  happened 
since  the  days  when  Cowper  wrote  of 

"  The  folio  of  four  pages,  happy  work, 
Which  not  e'en  ciitics  criticise." 

And  even  this  is  not  a  complete  picture  of  an  editor's  toils  and 
sufferings.  Just  as  it  is  necessary  for  a  paper  to  stand  well  with 
the  general  public,  so  is  it  important  for  its  editor  to  stand  well 
with  his  own  intimate  public — his  private  friends  and  the  writers 
on  his  staff.  How  to  reconcile  their  claims  on  his  kindness  and 
consideration  with  his  duty  to  the  world  is  often  a  difficult  problem. 
His  outside  friends  may  be  politicians  or  writers  on  whom  his 
columns  are  bound  to  pass  an  unfavourable  verdict ;  while  from 
a  host  of  acquaintances,  of  both  sexes,  he  receives  daily,  and  is 
generally  obliged  to  deny,  the  solicitations  incessantly  made  to  all 
who  have  anything  to  do  with  public  opinion.  And  what  tact  is 
needed  in  such  cases  to  give  a  denial,  yet  not  to  give  offence  !  Nor 
is  it  less  difficult  or  less  requisite  for  the  editor  to  be  on  friendly 
working  relations  with  his  staff.    Each  one  of  these  has  a  personality 

D  2 


82  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

of  his  own,  an  experience  to  which  deference  is  due,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  political  or  a  religious  bias,  which  a  wide  acquaintance 
with  the  persojinel  of  the  movements  of  the  day  only  serves  to 
emphasize.  Yet  often  the  editor  must  hurriedly  set  his  assistant's 
deliberate  judgment  aside;  and  must  always  eliminate  the  merely 
personal  feeling,  and  put  public  feeling  in  its  stead,  knowing,  as  has 
been  well  said,  that,  "  great  as  is  the  audacity  of  inner  consciousness 
in  these  days,  its  place  is  not  in  an  editor's  room."  And  this  (though 
it  seems  paradoxical  to  say  so)  as  regards  the  editor  himself  as 
.  much  as  any  member  of  his  staff.  For  the  good  editor  is  the  man 
who  has  the  fewest  hobbies,  or  having  them,  rides  them  least,  and 
who  is  able  to  raise  himself  above  the  level  of  party  passion  and 
personal  inclination,  to  direct  the  course  of  his  journal  as  from  a 
judge's  bench  for  impartiality,  as  from  a  true  statesman's  standpoint 
for  prescience  and  long-sighted  precision.  And  as  he  is  and  ought 
to  be  impersonal  in  what  he  says,  so  he  is  and  ought  to  be 
impersonal  in  his  very  way  of  saying  it.  Thus  the  editorial  "  we  " 
is  not  only  a  more  modest  yet  more  dignified  but  also  a  more 
absolutely  accurate  pronoun  than  "  I  "  for  the  leader-\\a-iter's  use. 
This  is  still  more  obviously  the  fact  when,  as  often  happens,  the 
writer,  or  the  editor  who  inspires  the  writer,  takes  his  cue  not  only 
from  what  his  trained  perception  tells  him  is  most  right  and  politic 
{pace  any  little  personal  weaknesses  of  his  own),  but  from  actual  con- 
sultation with  his  wisest  colleagues,  with  the  heads  of  his  Par- 


In  an  Editor  s  Chair.  83 

liamentary  party,  and  with  all  the  best  authorities  at  command. 
His  "  leader  "  is  thus  the  pronouncement  of  the  collective  wisdom  of 
a  board  of  direction,  and  cannot  without  the  absurdest  confusion 
be  classed  with  the  opinion  uttered  at  random  by  a  man  over  his 
matutinal  coffee  or  at  his  club— an  opinion  which  he  may  change 
to-morrow,  while  that  of  a  newspaper  must  never  be  recorded 
except  after  such  deliberation  as  will  allow  it  to  be  consistently 
maintained. 

When  the  Morning  Chronicle  was  bought  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea,  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Cook  (afterwards  editor  of  the  Saturday  Review),  and 
conducted  from  the  unpopular  platform  of  Puseyism  in  religion  as 
well  as  Peelism  in  politics,  not  all  their  combined  influence,  ability, 
and  capital,  could  prevent  a  decrease  in  circulation  and  an  actual 
average  loss  of  from  ;^io,ooo  to  ;^i2,ooo  a  year.  In  1854-—. 
according  to  Mr.  Grant,  a  not  infallible  authority — they  sold  the 
paper  to  Serjeant  Glover,  agreeing  to  give  him  ^3,000  annually  for 
three  years  on  condition  that  he  should  continue  to  advocate  the 
same  principles — an  arrangement,  if  really  made,  curiously  at  vari- 
ance with  certain  floating  impressions  as  to  supposed  editorial  free- 
dom from  the  restraining  influences  of  capital ;  and  the  Serjeant 
accepted  a  further  subsidy  from  France  to  support  the  Napoleonic 
Idea.  But  the  public  would  have  none  of  it ;  and  the  journal, 
whose  "  we  "  had  been  accepted  during  ninety  years  of  broad  and 


84  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

spirited  management,  was  hurled  into  bankruptcy  by  becoming  the 
organ  of  a  clique.  Used  in  a  class  journal,  of  course  the  "  we  " 
represents  only  a  class,  and  is  nevertheless  legitimate — always  sup- 
posing the  journal  does  not  pretend  to  be  more  than  it  is.  But 
the  great  dailies  and  weeklies  are  much  more  than  this,  and  must 
represent  the  thought  of  a  multitude,  not  the  whim  of  a  unit ; 
and  let  us  add  our  conviction  that  no  editor  or  proprietor  of  such 
would  ever  pander  to  a  popular  feeling  which  he  knew  to  be 
injurious  to  the  welfare  of  the  State.  All  this  is  what  even  a 
thoughtful  writer  like  Emerson  may  fail  to  comprehend.  "  Was 
ever,"  he  exclaims,  "  such  arrogancy  as  the  tone  of  The  Times  ? 
Every  slip  of  an  Oxonian  or  Cambridgian,  who  writes  his  first 
leader,  assumes  '  we '  subdued  the  earth  before  '  we  '  sat  down  to 
Avrite  this  particular  Times.  One  would  think  the  world  was  on 
its  knees  to  T/ie  Times  office  for  its  daily  breakfast.  But  the  arro- 
gance is  calculated.  Who  would  care  for  it  if  it  '  surmised,'  or 
'  dared  to  confess,'  or  *  ventured  to  predict '  ?  No  ;  it  is  so,  and 
so  it  shall  be."  The  idea  of  a  "  slip  "  of  an  undergraduate  trying 
his  'prentice  pen  in  the  most  important  department  of  our  most 
important  paper — that  of  The  Tivies  leading  articles — is  sufficiently 
grotesque,  and  shows  how  very  far  the  most  intelligent  alien  is  from 
understanding  the  seriousness  and  the  solidity  of  our  great 
national  organs. 

All  journalists,   therefore,   and  everyone    who  has    the    best 


In  an  Editor  s  Chair.  ^^ 

interests  of  journalism  at  heart,  ought,  we  would  earnestly  urge,  to 
deprecate  any  public  attempt  to  associate  a  newspaper  with  its 
personnel  in  the  sense  of  attacking  writers  by  name  for  the  anony- 
mous opinions  which  their  newspaper  expresses ;  or  of  attacking  a 
newspaper  for  the  private  shortcomings,  real  or  supposed,  of  any 
individual  member  of  its  proprietary  or  staff.  This  kind  of  banter, 
which  has  become  so  much  the  fashion  of  late,  may  raise  a  momen- 
tary smile,  but  it  must  in  the  end  be  fatal  to  the  liberty  and 
prestige  of  the  press,  while  it  indefinitely  increases  that  burden 
which  already  weighs  too  heavily  on  an  editor,  for  whom,  be  it 
understood,  we  are  claiming  no  licence  to  be  untruthful,  but  only 
leave  to  be,  in  the  exercise  of  duty,  as  impersonal  as  the  barrister, 
the  clergyman,  the  statesman,  the  monarch,  the  pontiff,  and  the 
judge. 

From  all  this  it  must  be  apparent  that  the  qualifications  of  an 
editor  are  not  only  or  chiefly  of  a  literary  order.  He  must  be  before 
all  things  a  man  of  the  world,  conversant  with  many  subjects,  and 
able  to  get  on  well  with  his  fellows,  some  of  whom  are  also  men  of 
the  world,  and  some  of  whom  are  not.  Mr.  Delane,  for  instance, 
never  wrote  in  The  Times,  but  he  directed  the  policy  of  those  who 
did,  even  down  to  the  minutest  particular,  a  habit  which  the  following 
note  very  characteristically  illustrates  : — "  My  dear  sir,— You  may 
review— — ,  if  you  like,  a  most  admirable  book ;  but  before  you  do 
this  please  to  write  me  a  memoir,  rather  eulogistic  than  otherwise,  but 


86  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

not  puffing,  of  Sir  William  Mansfield,  who,  after  resigning  the  chief 
command  in  India,  has  just  been  appointed  to  the  chief  command 
in  Ireland.— Ever  faithfully  yours,  M.  T.  Delane."  Among  weekly 
journals  the  Saturday  Review  has  been  issued  for  years  together 
without  an  article  from  the  editor's  pen. 

Although  what  we  have  hitherto  said  about  the  troubles  of 
editing,  and  the  kind  of  capacity  requisite  to  cope  with  them, 
applies  principally  to  the  daily  and  a  portion  of  the  weekly  press, 
it  holds  good  also  of  all  editing,  in  a  greater  or  a  less  degree.  Even 
a  monthly  will  not  be  successfully  conducted  by  a  litterateur^ 
however  brilliant,  unless  with  his  literary  ability  he  combines  a 
faculty  for  business,  a  power  to  endure  drudgery,  and  a  variety  of 
personal  qualities  not  often  met  with  in  any  one  man.  Coleridge, 
curiously  enough,  succeeded,  as  editor  of  the  Morning  Pos^,  in 
greatly  increasing  its  circulation  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  editors  are  made 
of  sterner  stuff.  "  I  can  find  any  number  of  men  of  genius  to  write 
for  me,  but  very  seldom  one  of  common  sense,"  an  editor  of  The 
Times  remarked  to  Moore.  Without  endorsing  this  saying  in  its 
hard,  excessive  brusquerie,  we  accept  in  a  modified  manner  the 
truth  it  contains,  and  recommend  it  to  the  careful  attention  of 
amateurs,  who  must  after  all  perceive  that  it  is  not  easy  to  sit  in 
that  editorial  chair  which  Campbell,  Moore,  Leigh  Hunt,  Carlyle, 
Lytton,  Thackeray,  Charles  Dickens,  George  Sala,  and  Anthony 
Trollope  were  forced  by  one  cause  or  another  to  abandon. 


A    MISCELLANEOUS    CHAPTER, 


picture,    to   lecture, 


E  have  somewhat  strayed  from  the  amateur^ 
to  whom  our  first  chapters  were  addressed, 
in  the  excursion  we  have  made  to  the  fields 
of  professional  life.  Our  excuse  is  that  no 
amateur  who  is  capable  of  taking  regular 
rank  will  be  content  to  remain  an  amateur — 
a  fact  which  distinguishes  literature  from 
the  other  arts.  A  reluctance  to  sell  a 
act,  sing,  or  play  for  money  is  common 
enough  in  certain  classes — or  if  such  reluctance  is  wearing  away 
a  little  shyness  lingers  when  the  market-matters  of  sale  and  pur- 
chase are  in  question.  But  no  one  ever  has  been,  or  ever 
will  be,  in  any  degree  ashamed  of  pocketing  a  cheque  for 
literary  work,  and  the  most  hypersensitive  have  no  fear  of 
losing  caste  by  selling  the  pure  production  of  their  brains.  This 
is  probably  because  no  personal  appearance  or  performance  for 
money  is  involved,  and  also  that  no  material  vs,  the  subject  of  barter. 
Mr.  Trollope  may  choose  to  call  literature  a  trade  ;  nevertheless 
the  litterateur  is  in  no  sense  a  tradesman.      Besides  all  this,  letters 


88  'Journals  and  "Journalism. 

are  and  will  always  remain  altogether  the  noblest  of  the  arts — the 
one  art,  perhaps,  with  which  society  could  not  by  any  possibility 
dispense — our  very  thinking  in  daily  life  having  taken  literary  form, 
and  some  kind  of  reading  being  really  as  necessary  to  us  as  bread ; 
whereas  a  civilization  deprived  of  music,  painting,  or  the  drama, 
is  at  least  conceivable.  No  literary  amateur,  then,  puts  any  limit 
before  himself.  He  aims  at  a  professional  standing  even  when  he 
does  not  intend  literature  to  be  his  only  profession ;  and  con- 
sequently there  is  not  in  this  art  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  artist  and  the  dilettante  which  exists  in  the  others ;  nor  have 
we  separated  them  in  our  survey. 

By  no  means  exhaustive  has  been  this  review  of  one  of  the 
most  distinctive  developments  of  the  modern  worM.  There  are 
joys  and  sorrows,  for  instance,  in  the  literary  career,  on  which  we 
have  not  touched.  Of  the  former,  one  of  the  keenest  is  the 
sensation  produced  on  the  novice  by  his  first  success.  Merely  to 
see  himself  in  print  for  the  first  time  is  a  pleasure  almost  over- 
whelming, if  only  for  the  "promise  that  it  closes."  If  that 
great  event  could  fall  flat,  it  would  assuredly  be  a  sign  that  his 
heart  was  not  in  his  work ;  that  his  work,  consequently,  was  not 
worthy  of  him  ;  and  that  it  behoved  him  to  seek  forthwith  for 
some  occupation  which  either  would  have  power  over  his 
emotions,  or  in  which  emotion'would  be  altogether  out  of  place. 
A  success  in  tea,  or  in  banking,  or  in  conveyancing,  will  always 


A  Miscellaneous  Chapter.  89 

leave  him  master  of  himself;  but  he  should  let  the  arts  alone, 
if  he  considers  unbroken  self-possession  as  a  necessary  part  of  his 
dignity.  Charles  Dickens,  as  we  have  already  seen,  does  not 
hesitate  to  confess  the  happy  tears  with  which  he  saw  his  first 
pubHshed  words,  and  the  nearer  our  beginner's  experience  comes 
to  his,  so  much  the  more  hope  will  there  be  that  the  career  of  the 
one  may  in  some  degree  resemble  that  of  the  other.  Out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,  we  are  told ;  and  if 
the  young  writer  have  sent  out  words  from  the  real  abundance  of 
his  heart,  he  has  merited  the  delight  of  seeing  them  winged  for 
flight  into  the  corners  of  the  world.  Nor  will  any  art  or  any 
pursuit  yield  him  a  more  just  enjoyment,  or  a  more  lasting  one ; 
it  will  not  wear  out  at  the  fifth  repetition,  nor  at  the  fiftieth,  so 
long  as  his  work  is  honest  work ;  his  satisfaction  will  be  calmer, 
indeed,  but  as  solid  as  ever. 

We  come  to  one  of  the  sorrows  of  the  career  when  we  deplore 
that  this  moving,  touching,  thrilling  moment  of  a  first  publication 
should  so  often  be  marred  by  a  little  matter  which  is  enough  to 
turn  a  triumph  into  a  mortification.  Everyone  who  has  passed 
through  the  experience  will  know  that  we  refer  to  the  sore  subject 
of  misprints.  The  beginner  is  more  liable  than  another  to  this 
form  of  disappointment  and  annoyance,  because  he  generally 
sends  in  his  tentative  MS.  to  some  comparatively  obscure 
periodical,  the  printing  department  of  which  is  not  a  model  of 


9©  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

efficiency ;  or  because  an  editor  may  not  think  a  casual  contri- 
bution worth  the  trouble  of  a  despatch  of  proofs.  Amateur  authors 
are  largely  to  be  blamed  for  the  frequent  neglect  of  this  pre- 
caution and  courtesy  on  the  part  of  an  editor;  if  they  would 
more  generally  take  the  trouble  to  complete  their  work,  finally 
and  irrevocably,  before  sending  it  in — if,  that  is,  they  could  be 
trusted  to  correct  in  proof  the  compositor's  errors  merely,  and 
not  to  re-write  and  polish  up  their  own  sentences  (which  they 
should  have  done  in  the  MS.),  they  would  often  have  the  security 
and  satisfaction  of  receiving  the  coveted  slips.  Such  afterthoughts 
of  an  author  entail  on  an  editor  serious  expense,  which  he  cannot 
be  blamed  for  avoiding.  Yet  it  must  be  owned  that  misprints  are 
intolerable.  The  absurdity  of  the  errors — and  they  hardly  ever 
fail  of  a  poignant  absurdity — the  utter  impotence  of  the  unhappy 
writer,  who  has  no  means  whatever  of  retrieving  his  character  for 
common  sense,  or  even  sanity,  are  calculated  to  drive  him  to 
temporary  despair.  Feelingly  does  an  anonymous  (we  believe  a 
Transatlantic)  bard  sing  the  sorrows  which  embitter  what  would 
otherwise  be  a  moment  of  entire  glory : — 

ON    SEEING   MY   FIRST    POEM    IN   A    NEWSPAPER. 


Ah  !  here  It  is  !   I'm  famous  now- 

An  author  and  a  poet  ! 
It  really  is  in  print — ye  gods, 

How  proud  I'll  be  to  show  it  ! 


And  gentle  Anna— what  a  thrill 

Will  animate  her  breast 
To  read  these  ardent  lines,  and  know 

To  whom  they  are  addressed. 


A  Miscellaneous  Chapter. 


9^ 


Why,  bless  my  soul — here's  something 
strange  ! 

What  can  the  paper  mean 
By  talking  of  the  "graceful  brooks 

That  gander  o'er  the  green  ?  " 
And  here's  a  T  instead  of  R, 

Which  makes  it  "  tippling  rill  ;  " 
"We'll  seek  the  shad,"  instead  of  shade, 

And  "hell,"  instead  of  hill. 

"  They  look  so  " — what  ? — I  recollect 

'Twas  "  sweet,"  and  then  'twas  "  kind." 
And  now  to  think  the  stupid  fool 
For  bland  has  printed  "  blind." 
Was  ever  such  provoking  work  ? — 

'Tis  curious,  by  the  bye, 
How  anything  is  rendered  blind 
By  giving  it  an  eye. 

"Hast  thou  no  tears?"  —  the  T's  left 
out ; 

"  Hast  thou  no  ears  ?  "  instead. 
"  I  hope  that  thou  art  dear"  is  put 

"  I  hope  that  thou  art  dead." 
Whoever  saw  in  such  a  space 

So  many  blunders  crammed  ? 
"  Those  gentle  eyes  bedimmed  "  is  spelt, 

"Those  gentle  eyes  bedammed." 


"  Thou    art    the    same "    is    rendered 
"  lame," 

It  really  is  too  bad  ; 
And  here,  because  an  I  is  out. 

My  "  lovely  maid  "  is  "  mad." 
"  Where  are  the  muses  fed,  that  thou 

Shouldst  live  so  long  unsung  ?  " 
Thus  read  my  version  :  here  it  is, 

"  Shouldst  live  so  long  unhung. " 

I'll  read  no  more.     What  shall  I  do? 

I'll  never  dare  to  send  it. 
The  paper  's  scattered  far  and  wide — 

'Tis  now  too  late  to  mend  it. 
Oh,  Fame  !  thou  cheat  of  human  bliss  ! 

Why  did  I  ever  write  ? 
I  wish  my  poem  had  been  burnt 

Before  it  saw  the  light. 

I  wish  I  had  that  editor, 

About  a  half-a-minute, 
I'd  bang  him  to  my  heart's  content. 

And  with  an  H  begin  it. 
I'd  ja»!  his  body,  eyes,  and  nose. 

And  spell  it  with  a  D  ; 
And  send  him  to  that  A/ll  of  his — 

He  spells  it  with  an  E. 


Nor  is  it  the  amateur  alone  who  is  familiar  with  this  dismay. 
All  through  life  the  literary  man  is  liable — often  owing  to  a  sloven- 
liness of  handwriting — to  be  misprinted;  and  he  will  never  like  it, 
nor  perhaps  ever  bear  it  with  equanimity.  He  will  find,  too, 
that  when  he  is  misprinted  it  is  generally  in  the  very  passages  on 
which  his  affections  were  principally  set,  and  his  sensations,  if 


9  2  'Journals  ana  Journalism. 

milder  than  those  of  the  debutant,  are  far  from  pleasant.  In  all 
cases  the  mortification — more  keen  according  to  the  inexperience 
of  the  victim — is  sufficient  to  neutralize  the  pleasure— also  more 
keen  according  to  the  freshness  of  the  author — of  an  appearance 
in  print. 

With  these  and  many  other  joys  and  sorrows  are  responsibiUties 
to  which  we  have  little  space  to  allude,  but  which  bear  a  larger 
part  in  literary  life  than  in  perhaps  any  other  career,  not  even 
excepting  religion,  medicine  and  statesmanship.  And  of  the 
two  branches  of  literature — authorship  and  journalism— the  latter 
is  assuredly  the  most  heavily  burdened.  In  one  way  only  can  the 
anonymous  wielder  of  public  power  become  worthy  of  his  influence, 
and  that  is  by  letting  conscience  guide  all  the  course  of  his  pro- 
fessional hfe.  Mere  prudence  will  not  avail  to  fit  him  for  his  post, 
which  is,  indeed,  usually  one  of  so  great  security,  that  prudence 
would  be  of  itself  a  quite  insufficient  motive  for  honourable 
conduct.  The  priest  must  answer  to  visible  powers,  to  his  bishop 
and  his  people  ;  the  physician  to  his  patient ;  the  statesman  to  the 
nation ;  but  the  anonymous  journalist  very  frequently  is  responsible 
only  to  himself,  and  so  much  the  more  seriously  will  he  feel  the 
force  of  obligations  for  the  breach  of  which  he  may  never  have  to 
suffer;  so  much  the  more  fine  will  become  the' sensitiveness  of 
his  self-respect,  so  much  the  more  active  his  sympathies.  And 
while  drawing  this  picture— ideal,  perhaps,  but  happily  also  quite 


A  Miscellaneous  Chapter.  93 

real — we  need  not  necessarily  be  included  among  those  who 
declaim  against  personal  journalism,  so  long  as  personality  is 
inoifensive  to  any  private  feeling.  Subject  to  that  condition,  it  is 
legitimate  enough,  and  all  the  more  legitimate  as  it  is  inevitable. 
It  is  no  new  thing.  A  writer  in  a  "  Society  "  paper  recently  retorted 
to  the  stock  charge  of  personality,  that  the  daily  Court  Circular 
chronicles  are  far  more  intimately  and  intrusively  personal  than 
the  information  collected  under  the  gossiping  headings  of  the 
weeklies :  for  custom  alone  causes  us  to  accept  the  announcement 
that  her  Majesty  walked  on  the  slopes,  and  that  one  maid  of 
honour  was  succeeded  by  another,  as  a  matter  of  any  concern 
whatever  to  the  general  public.  The  censors  of  personal 
journalism  generally  assume  that  the  persons  or  personages  who 
are  the  subject  of  it  are  aggrieved  by  their  own  prominent 
appearance  in  print ;  the  journalist,  however,  knows  that  there  is 
no  such  grievance  felt,  provided  the  gossip  published  is  pleasant 
gossip — and  no  other  kind  should  be  allowed  to  appear. 
Another  facile  criticism  consists  in  the  charge  of  Americanism. 
We  would,  however,  recommend  a  comparison  between  the 
chattiest  of  the  decent  London  journals  of  this  kind  and  their 
Transatlantic  contemporaries.  A  glance  will  show  that  the 
difference  is  immeasurable ;  that  there  is  a  twang  about  the 
American  personalities  which  high-class  English  journalism  of  the 
kind  has  never  caught.     Apart  from  this,  the  press  of  the  great 


94  'Journals  and  "Journalism. 

Republic  has  much  that  our  own  may  imitate  with  advantage,  and 
which  is  so  imitated  by  some  of  the  most  successful  of  the  English 
papers.  The  brightly-wTitten,  readable,  and  non-political  foreign 
correspondence  which  has  sometimes  appeared  in  the  Daily 
Telegraph  is  an  example  of  this.  Let  us  remember  that  we  are  not 
altogether  perfect,  and  that  if  the  French  press  seems  to  us  frivolous 
and  the  American  flippant,  ours  is  considered  quite  intolerably 
prosaic  and  heavy  in  Paris  and  New  York.  To  amuse  is  an 
important  function  of  the  modern  newspaper,  and  one  which  we 
hope  will  never  be  neglected ;  for  we  believe  there  is  hardly  a  single 
editor — we  cannot  tax  our  memory  with  one — -in  England  who 
would  consciously  allow  his  paper  to  be  made  the  vehicle  of  private 
spite,  though  he  might  possibly  be  made  the  tool  of  a  malicious 
contributor  through  ignorance  or  through  one  of  those  errors  of 
judgment  from  which  nobody  is  exempt,  but  which  are  visited 
more  heavily  on  an  editor  than  on  anyone  else.  For  the  journalist's 
freedom  from  what  is  generally  understood  by  responsibility  docs 
not  by  any  means  belong  to  an  editor — whose  broad  shoulders, 
indeed,  are  made  to  bear  the  burdens  of  his  whole  staff. 

It  remains  for  those  who  are  about  to  enter  the  profession  to 
keep  it  as  honourable  and  high-toned  as  it  now  is.  If,  from 
choice  or  necessity,  they  tread  the  quicksands  of  personal 
journalism,  they  must  remember  how  Charles  Dickens  boiled  over 
with   indignation  at  what  he  considered  to  be  an    unwarranted 


A  Miscellaneous  Chapter,  95 

attack  on  a  private  reputation.  "When  I  think,"  he  writes  to 
Macready,  "  that  every  dirty  speck  upon  the  fair  face  of  the 
Almighty's  creation  who  writes  in  a  filthy,  beastly  newspaper;  every 
rotten-hearted  panderer  who  has  been  beaten,  kicked,  and  rolled 
in  the  kennel,  yet  struts  it  in  the  editorial  '  We '  once  a  week ; 
every  vagabond  that  an  honest  man's  gorge  must  rise  at ;  every 
living  emetic  in  that  noxious  drug-shop,  the  press,  can  have  his 
fling  at  such  men  and  call  them  knaves  and  fools  and  thieves — I 
grow  so  vicious  that  with  bearing  hard  upon  my  pen  I  break  the 
nib  down,  and  with  keeping  my  teeth  set  make  my  jaws  ache." 
These  words — written  in  a  moment  of  characteristic  excitement 
and  irritation,  may  hardly  be  a  necessary  warning  to  any  of  the 
beginners  whom  we  address  ;  yet  the  temptation  to  "  smart  " 
scribbling  is  great ;  and  all  who  are  liable  to  it  should  remember 
that  personalities  which  would  not  be  spoken  out  at  a  club  are 
not  to  be  printed  in  a  newspaper.  Nor  do  we  grudge  the  great 
novelist  his  exaggeration  in  straining  for  effect,  if  that  effect  is 
produced  on  the  minds  of  those  in  whose  hands  is  the  future  of 
journalism  for  evil  or  good.  Let  them  have  always  before  them 
the  words  of  another  great  and  sensitive  man.  "  Ah  !  ye  knights 
of  the  pen,"  exclaims  Thackeray  in  the  "  Roundabout  Papers," 
"  may  honour  be  your  shield,  and  truth  tip  your  lances  !  Be  gentle 
to  all  gentle  people.  Be  modest  to  women.  Be  tender  to  chil- 
dren.    And  as  for  the  ogre  humbug,  out  sword,  and  have  at  him." 


96  "Journals  and  'Journalism, 

Enough  has  been  said  in  these  pages  to  the  new  writer.  That 
which  is  in  want  of  encouragement — and  it  is  a  truism  that 
merit  is  generally  modest — will,  we  hope,  find  nothing  to  chill  or 
dismay  it  in  the  frankest  sincerity  of  what  we  have  said ;  nor  that 
which  requires  suppressing,  to  give  it  false  hopes.  What  we  have 
written  has  been  designed — we  do  not  disguise  it — for  hindrance 
of  some,  as  well  as  for  help  of  others.  For  we  have  aimed  at 
writing  the  truth  only ;  and  the  truth  has  this  property,  among 
many,  that  everyone  will  find  in  it  what  he  most  needs  and  can 
best  assimilate. 


LITERARY  COPYRIGHT. 

FEW  words  may  here  be  said  on  the  sub- 
ject of  literary  copyright,  particularly  in 
connection  with  the  periodical  press.  The 
amateur  who,  compelled  by  some  circum- 
stance or  other,  regretfully  publishes  in  a 
magazine  a  composition  out  of  which  he 
believes  a  fortune  might  be  made  under 
happier  auspices,  may  be  glad  to  be 
assured  that  he  does  not  lose  all  right  over  his  work  because  it 
has  been  used  by  an  editor,  unless  there  is  a  special  agreement 
to  that  effect. 

By  5  and  6  Victoria,  Cap.  45,  it  is  provided  {inter  alia)  : — 

(i).  That  the  copyright  in  every  article  in  an  encyclopedia,  review,  or  other 
periodical,  shall  belong  to  the  proprietor  of  that  periodical  for  the  same  term 
{i.e.  forty  years)  as  is  allowed  by  the  act  to  authors  of  books,  whenever  such 
article  shall  be  contributed  on  the  terms  that  the  copyright  therein  shall  belong 
to  such  proprietor  and  be  paid  for  by  him.  On  that  point  it  has  been  settled 
that  the  proprietor  acquires  no  copyright  till  payment  has  actually  been  made. 

(2).  After  the  term  of  twenty-eight  years  from  the  first  publication  of  any 
article,  the  right  of  publishing  the  same  in  a  separate  form  shall  revert  to  the 

E 


98  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

author  for  the  remainder  of  the  term  (of  forty  years)  given  by  the  act ;  and 
during  such  term  of  twenty-eight  years  the  proprietor  shall  not  publish  any 
such  article  separately  without  previously  obtaining  the  author's  consent. 

(3).  Any  author  may  reserve  to  himself  the  right  to  publish  any  such 
composition  in  a  separate  form,  and  he  will  then  be  entitled  to  the  sole  copy- 
right in  the  separate  publication. 

Apart  from  the  strict  legal  regulations  on  this  matter,  there  is 
probably  a  recognised  custom  in  the  profession  by  which  the  copy- 
right in  articles  is  considered  to  belong  to  the  writer,  in  the 
absence  of  any  express  contrary  stipulation,  such  as  that,  for 
instance,  which  Messrs.  Cassell,  Fetter,  Galpin  and  Co.  include 
in  the  printed  receipt  form  sent  out  with  all  their  payments  for 
literary  matter.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  by  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Act  above  quoted,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  even  where 
he  is  the  owner  of  the  copyright,  an  editor  cannot  publish  a  con- 
tribution in  a  separate  shape  without  the  writer's  consent,  which 
may  be  withheld  until  it  is  worth  his  while  to  grant  it.  For 
example,  in  the  case  of  Mayhew  v.  Maxwell  the  defendant  was 
restrained  from  publishing  in  a  separate  form,  without  the  plaintiffs 
permission,  an  article  written  by  the  plaintiff  in  a  magazine  called 
The  Welcome  Guest. 

Between  author  and  publisher  in  regard  to  a  volume,  the 
arrangement  as  to  copyright  is  more  simple  than  that  between 
author  and  editor.     The  composition  simply  changes  hands.    Yet 


Literary  Copyright.  gg 

even  in  selling  out-and-out  to  a  bookseller  the  copyright  of  a  MS.,  its 
author  may  feel  well  assured  that  if  its  publication  should  prove  a 
great  and  an  unexpected  pecuniary  success,  he  will  share  in  those 
profits,  even  though  he  has  no  legal  claim  to  do  so.  Fifty  instances 
of  the  kind  could  be  brought  up  to  show  that  publishers  are  not 
devoid  of  moral  justness  on  such  occasions. 

Mr.  Carlyle  once  said  to  Charles  Sumner,  that  "  the  strangest 
thing  in  the  history  of  literature  was  his  recent  receipt  of^j^so 
from  America,  on  account  of  his  '  French  Revolution,'  which  had 
never  yielded  him  a  farthing  in  Europe,  and  probably  never  would." 
And,  indeed,  the  new  world  furnishes  a  grand  audience  for  all 
worthy  and  memorable  English  utterances.  The  Americans  are 
eminently  a  reading  people  ;  literature  is  cultivated  among  solitary 
New  England  farms  in  a  manner  that  is  foreign  to  the  customs  of 
Old  England  ;  almost  every  village  in  the  Northern  States  has  its 
free  public  library  and  reading-room ;  and  some  English  books 
which  are  Uttle  read  at  home  are  household  words  among  the 
pastures  of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts.  In  fame  and 
sympathy,  then,  America  almost  overpays  our  authors,  but  com- 
mercially the  matter  is  notoriously  otherwise,  the  absence  of  any 
satisfactory  regulation  as  to  international  copyright  leaving  the 
remuneration  of  writers  here,  whose  works  are  republished  there, 
entirely  to  the  chance  benevolence  of  the  American  bookseller, 
who,  naturally  enough,  does  not  care  to  pay  much  for  a  copyright 


100  'Journals  and  'Journalism. 

which  he  cannot  legally  protect.  Into  the  intricate  English  law  of 
libel  we  do  not  propose  to  enter  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  in  any 
difficulty  of  the  kind,  or  in  any  question  of  copyright,  authors  will 
find  in  Mr.  George  Lewis  an  adviser  whose  care,  courtesy,  and 
consideration  are  only  equalled  by  his  ability  and  the  legal  ex- 
perience he  is  known  to  have  acquired  in  all  matters  relating  to 
authorship  and  the  press. 


TEN  COMMANDMENTS :    WITH  REASONS  AND 
REMARKS. 

OPY"  (the  technical  name  of  MSS.  sent  to  the 
press)  mj/sf  be  ivriiten  on  only  one  side  of  the 
paper.  This  because  the  sheets  are  often 
divided  among  a  body  of  printers  to  secure 
expedition  or  to  keep  all  hands  employed. 
Of  course  it  is  especially  on  a  daily  that  copy 
is  set  into  type  in  a  hurry.  If,  for  instance,  the 
last  speech  of  a  Parliamentary  debate  arrive 
an  hour  before  the  paper  goes  to  press,  the  sheets  are  cut  cross- 
ways  into  shreds  or  "  takes,"  so  that  simultaneous  printing  produces 
the  whole  in  a  few  minutes.  The  rule,  however,  applies  to  all  MSS., 
whether  sent  to  a  daily  paper  or  a  quarterly  review. 

2.  Write  on  sheets  of  paper  which  are  neither  small  enough  to  be 
scrappy  nor  large  enough  to  be  cumbrous  on  the  printer's  case. 
No  exact  size  can  be  mentioned  as  universally  preferred  by  com- 
positors ;  but  the  most  convenient  of  all  is  perhaps  foolscap  quarto, 
which  measures  about  seven  inches  by  eight.    A  small  post-octavo 


102  'Journals  and  ^Journalism, 

(about  four  inches  by  seven)  and  a  large  post-octavo  (five  inches 
by  eight)  are  also  popular  sizes. 

3.  Leave  plenty  of  space  in  margins  arid  between  lines  for 
your  own  and  editorial  corrections.  Then  a  whole  page  of  MS. 
need  not  be  recopied  because  a  sentence  is  altered.  Every  line 
may  have  a  correction  if  legibly  made. 

4.  Use  white  paper  rather  than  blue;  because  the  writing  stands 
out  more  distinctly — an  important  consideration  with  the  com- 
positor, who  often  works  by  gaslight. 

5.  Use  ink,  and  black  ink  —  iox  the  same  reason.  Pencil- 
writing  is  fainter  and  generally  smudges  ;  moreover  it  catches  the 
light  at  certain  angles,  and  becomes  invisible  to  the  printer,  whose 
head,  unless  he  stoops,  is  a  couple  of  feet  distant  from  his 
"copy." 

6.  Write  plainly.  Distinct  penmanship  is  an  immense  desidera- 
tum with  both  editor  and  printer.  Excellent  contributions  have 
gone  into  the  waste-paper  basket  because  editors,  always  busy, 
have  not  time  or  patience  to  decipher  hieroglyphics.  It  is  true 
that  not  all  established  journalists  write  very  readably— as  some  of 
the  autographs  scattered  through  these  pages  sufificiently  show. 
In  fact,  much  rapid  writing,  as  Lord  Lytton  somewhere  says, 
destroys  even  a  beautiful  hand.  But  in  the  case  of  a  professional, 
on  the  staff  of  a  paper,  his  contributions  are  frequently  never  read 
by  the  editor  until  they  are  in  type,  and  the  burden  of  the  bad 


Ten  Commandments.  103 

writing  falls  on  the  compositor  alone  ;  the  amateur,  however,  will 
certainly  feel  the  disadvantage  of  writing  an  illegible  hand. 
Above  all,  write  proper  names  and  technical  phrases  in  characters 
as  clear  as  print.  A  compositor  deciphers  cleverly  and  almost 
instinctively  where  the  words  are  those  in  ordinary  use;  but 
where  they  are  out  of  the  common  run,  of  course  he  can  only 
guess  at  them,  and  goes  proverbially  wide  of  the  mark. 

7.  Number  your  pages  of  MS. 

8.  Write  yourname  and  address  in  a  comer  of  the  first  page,  where 
it  is  sure  to  be  seen,  instead  of  on  the  back  of  a  sheet,  or  in  an 
accompanying  letter  where  it  is  more  likely  than  not  to  be  over- 
looked or  lost. 

9.  Be  pwidual.  A  remembrance  of  this  trite  admonition  will 
often  stand  a  journalist  in  good  stead.  A  man  of  mediocre  talent 
who  always  sends  his  copy  in  at  the  right  time  is  worth  more  to  an 
editor  than  a  genius  who  cannot  be  depended  on.  A  few  hints 
about  sending-in  days  may  not  be  amiss.  Weeklies  generally 
require  latest  copy  at  least  two  days  before  they  are  published,  and 
almost  without  exception  they  are  published  a  day  or  two  earlier 
than  the  date  they  bear.  Saturday's  Pu7ich  is  a  Wednesday 
institution ;  Wednesday's  World  is  read  on  Tuesday  afternoon ; 
just  as  the  evening  papers  are  on  the  railway  stalls  when  we  over- 
sleep a  little  in  the  morning.  The  World,  for  example,  goes  to  press 
on  Monday  night  to  be  ready  for  actual  publication  on  Tuesday 


1 04  'Journals  and  "Journalism. 

afternoon ;  and  though  down  to  Monday  night  it  is  possible  to 
insert  anything  of  special  importance,  the  standing  rule  is  that 
copy  shall  reach  the  editor  on  Saturday  morning,  or,  failing  that, 
be  posted  by  members  of  the  staff  straight  to  the  printer  not  later 
than  Sunday  night.  Again,  the  Graphic  goes  to  press  in  two  parts 
— that  which  contains  the  story  and  standing  articles  earUer  in  the 
week  than  that  which  is  devoted  to  current  comment  and  to  news. 
Obviously,  a  contribution  loses  half  its  chance  of  insertion  when 
probably  more  than  enough  copy  to  fill  the  whole  paper  has  been 
already  sent  in.  Even  some  of  the  monthly  magazines,  less  con- 
cerned than  the  weeklies  with  passing  affairs,  are  prepared  for  the 
press  a  fortnight  or  more  before  they  are  published.  Contributions, 
for  instance,  to  one  of  Messrs.  Cassell,  Petter,  and  Galpin's  monthlies 
for  April  will  sometimes  be  asked  for  by  even  the  first  of  February; 
and  the  principal  contents  of  Good  Words  are  arranged  nearly  a 
year  in  advance.  Stories  for  Christmas  numbers  are  ordered  in 
the  height  of  summer ;  and  verses  apostrophizing  snow  are  com- 
posed with  the  thermometer  at  80  deg. ;  just  as  Hogarth's  poet 
indited  an  ode  to  riches  while  his  wife  was  dunned  for  the  milk- 
score.  This  will  account  to  the  beginner  for  many  vexatious 
editorial  delays  and  refusals,  and  will  impress  on  him  the  necessity 
of  taking  time  by  the  forelock  when  sending  his  contributions  to 
the  press. 

10.  Mark   the    ^^ proofs  "   of  any   accepted  contribution  sent  for 


^'Ten  Commandments. 


105 


correction  according  to  the  technical  system,  which  avoids  endless 
confusion,  and  which  every  compositor  understands.  The 
publishers  have  added  an  advertisement  sheet  at  the  end  of 
this  book  which  sets  forth  this  professional  method  of  correcting 
for  the  press. 


£  2 


A  DICTIONARY   OF  THE  PERIODICAL  PRESS. 


OR  the  benefit  of  beginners,  we  append  the 
names  and  addresses  of  some  of  the 
leading  periodical  publications,  with  a 
slight  sketch  of  their  character  and  scope. 
The  list  makes  no  pretension  to  be  com- 
plete; for,  while  it  embraces  the  leading 
journals  and  magazines  of  general  interest 
— not  forgetting  even  those  less  ambitious 
but  widely-circulated  issues  to  which  we  referred  while  insisting 
that  the  amateur  must  not  shrink  from  a  humble  beginning — our 
narrow  space  necessarily  excludes  notice  of  either  the  provincial 
press,  or  of  organs  devoted  to  the  special  interests  of  this  or  that 
trade,  society,  or  sect ;  though  on  these  there  are  thousands  of 
pens  perennially  and  profitably  at  work.  In  the  interest  of  the 
general  reader,  as  well  as  of  the  amateur,  we  have,  in  some 
instances,  added  a  few  historical  details  about  the  publications 
named,  taking  conscientious  care,  however,  that  in  so  doing  we 
wound  no  sensibility  and  betray  no  trust.  In  cases  where 
personal  allusion   is   made   to  editors,   either  their  names  have 


A  'Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.       107 

already  been  publicly  associated,  in  Men  of  the  Time  or  else- 
where, with  the  papers  they  conduct,  or  are  in  all  men's  mouths 
in  that  connexion,  or  else  they  are  used  by  a  permission,  for 
which,  as  well  as  for  all  other  help  and  kindness  afforded  to 
us  by  individuals,  or  by  publications,  in  the  compilation  of  this 
little  book,  we  here  beg  to  express  our  cordial  thanks. 


Academy  (52,  Carey  Street,  Lincoln's  Inn  ;  Weekly,  3d.),  established  in  1869 
as  a  literary,  artistic  and  scientific  review,  differing  from  the  Athenatim, 
which  it  otherwise  too  closely  resembles,  by  special  prominence  given  to  science, 
and  by  the  rule  that  its  pritical  notices  be  signed  by  the  writers.  Whether 
this  system  produces  criticism  that  is  more  responsible  and  influential  than 
anonymous  writing  need  not  be  discussed  here,  but  it  has  at  any  rate  served  to 
show  that  the  Academy  possesses  a  brilliant  and  learned  staff.  This  staff  was 
ably  directed  for  some  years  by  Dr.  Aj^pleton,  whose  death  in  1879  cut  short 
a  promising  career. 

After  IVork  (62,  Paternoster  Row  ;  Monthly,  id.),  an  illustrated  journal  for 
the  working  classes. 

All  the  Year  Round  (26,  Wellington  Street,  Strand  ;  Monthly,  gd.  ;  Weekly, 
2d.),  a  magazine  of  general  literature  and  social  politics.  Established  in  1859  by 
Charles  Dickens  upon  the  disruption  of  his  connection  with  Messrs. 
Bradbury  and  Evans,  the  publishers  of  Household  Words,  which  the 
novelist  had  till  then  conducted.  His  separation  from  his  wife  had  occurred 
shortly  before,  and,  though  an  entirely  private  matter,  had  given  rise  to  much 
public  talk.  Two  ladies  in  particular  had  set  afloat  some  false  rumours 
reflecting  on  Charles  Dickens'  domestic  character.     In  answer  to  these  widely- 


io8  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

spread  but  idle  accusations  he  resolved  to  make  public  a  kind  of  manifesto  headed 
"Personal,"  which  duly  appeared  on  the  first  page  of  his  periodical, 
Household  Words  :  and  he  requested  Messrs.  Bradbury  and  Evans  to  print  a 
duplicate  on  the  back  of  Punch,  of  which  they  were  also  the  publishers. 
Those  gentlemen  declined  on  the  ground  of  good  taste,  alleging  that  a  comic 
journal  was  not  the  proper  medium  for  explanations  of  a  grave  and  delicate 
nature.  From  this  difference  of  opinion  resulted  a  separation  between 
author  and  publishers ;  the  former  established  All  the  Year  Round,  and  the 
latter  Once  a  Week,  upon  the  ruins  of  Household  Words.  Charles  Dickens' 
journal  became  a  noted  feature  of  the  periodical  press;  it  was  conducted  with 
rare  liberality  towards  the  claims  of  unknown  aspirants,  in  whose  contributions 
the  conductor  seemed  to  take  a  warm  personal  interest.  The  younger  Charles 
Dickens  ably  edits  the  journal  now. 

Anglo-American  Publications  : — I.  American  Traveller  (4,  Langham  Place, 
W;  Weekly,  id.),  a  literary,  political  and  social  newspaper,  established 
1874,  and  "devoted  to  the  interests  of  Americans  abroad."  2.  Anglo- 
A>?ierican  Times  (127,  Strand;  Weekly,  4d.),  established  1865;  conducted 
on  neutral  principles,  gives  special  attention  to  the  American  news  of  the 
week.  3.  Atlantic  Monthly  (57,  Ludgate  Hill;  Monthly,  is.),  an  excellent 
magazine  of  literature,  science,  art  and  politics.  Excellent  magazines  also 
are  Harper's,  Scribner''s  and  Lippincott's,  both  of  which  circulate  largely  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Anglo-Colonial  and  Anglo -European  Publications  : — I.  British  Mail  (40, 
Chancery  Lane ;  Monthly,  2s.)  1.  European  Mail  (Colonial  Buildings, 
Cannon  Street,  E.C.  ;  price  varies  according  to  the  quarter  of  the  world  to 
which  it  is  sent).  3.  Foreign  Times  {13,  Sherborne  Lane,  E.C.  ;  Fort- 
nightly, 2d.)  4.  Zi^o/«£iVfi£/^  (55,  Parliament  Street,  S.W.)  5.  Overland  Mail 
(65,  Comhill,  E.C.  ;  Weekly,  6d.) 

Animal  World  (9,  Paternoster  Row  ;  Monthly,  2d.)  Illustrated  ;  the  advo- 
cate of  kindness  to  animals. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         109 

Antiquary  {62,  Paternoster  Row;   Monthly,  is.),  a  magazine  "  devoted  to 
the  study  of  the   past,"  and   edited   by  Mr.      ^ 
Edward  Walford,  author  of  "  Old   and  New   ^yCt/'ft^'''C^V^'t^ 

London  "  and  a  number  of  other  well-known     ^ S- - 

works,  in  whose  hands  it  has  become  one  of 

the  most  successful  of  the  periodicals  having  1880  for  the  year  of  their  birth. 

Architectural  and  Building  Journals  : — i.  Architect  (i^S,  Strand  ;  Weekly, 
4d.),  established  1869.  A  model  technical  paper.  It  contains  articles  of 
general  as  well  as  professional  interest,  especially  on  artistic  and  sanitary  sub- 
jects. So  do  (2)  the  British  Architect  and  Northern  Engineer  (35,  Bouverie 
Street,  Fleet  Street  ;  Weekly,  4d.),  established  1874;  (3)  the  Builder  (46, 
Catherine  Street,  Strand ;  Weekly,  4d.),  established  1842;  (4)  the  Building 
News  (31,  Tavistock  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  4d.),  established  1854;  and  (5) 
the  Building  World  (31,  Southampton  Street,  Strand;  Monthly,  3d.), 
established  1877. 

Argosy  (8,  New  Burlington  Street ;  Monthly,  6d.),  an  illustrated  magazine 
of  tales,  travels,  essays,  and  verses,  conducted  by  Mrs.  Henry  Wood,  with  the 
assistance  of  her  son,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Wood. 

Artist  [iS^,  Fleet  Street;  Monthly,  4d.),  is  the  only  newspaper  of  the  art 
world  published,  and  a  very  good  one  too. 

A7-t  Journal  (26,  Ivy  Lane  ;    Monthly,  2s.  6d.),  an   illustrated  magazine 
founded  by  and  inseparably  connected  with  the  name  and  perhaps  too  amiable 
character  of  Mr.  Samuel  Carter  Hall,  who,  as  journalist,  author,  and  editor,  has 
a  literary  history  that  goes  back  almost  as  far  as  the  century.     Art  is  in  a 
flourishing  state,  at  any  rate  pecuniarily,  in  England  now,  the  artist's  remunera- 
tion   being    of  a  more  adequate    nature  >»■ 
than  that  which  falls  to    the  lot  of  his               yi^X^  ^^^y>y^ 
literary  brother  ;    and   it   is  undoubtedly        /p^X  ^^  /*^  ^^^C 
to  the  modern  writers  on  art  in  general 
and  to  Mr.  Hall  in  particular  that  the  artist  of  to-day  owes  the  appreciation 


1 1  o  Journals  and  'Journalism. 

of  a  wide  public.  When  will  art  return  the  compliment,  and  give  us 
representations  of  distressed  authors  which  will  harrow  the  hearts  of 
editors  and  publishers,  and  unloose  their  purse-strings  ?  Mr.  Hall  has  recently 
vacated  the  editorial  chair  at  the  office  of  the  Art  Journal,  where  his  place  is 
taken  by  Mr.  Marcus  Huish,  who,  though  young,  has  already  made  a  position 
in  the  world  of  literature  and  art. 

^r^,  il/a^^32«£  £?/  (Cassell,  Fetter,  Galpin  and  Co.,  Ludgate  Hill,  E.G.; 
Monthly,  7d.),  established  in  1878,  and  has  already  attained  the  wide 
popularity  justly  attaching  to  publications  which  are  cheap  but  not  nasty, 
light  but  not  trivial,  instructive  but  never  dull.  The  scope  of  the  magazine  is 
indicated  by  its  title,  the  editor  excluding  from  his  pages  all  topics  except 
those  directly  connected  with  the  Fine  and  the  Industrial  Arts. 

AthencEum  (20,  Wellington  Street,  Strand ;  Weekly,  3d.),  a  journal  of 
literature,  science,  art,  music,  and  the  drama,  founded  in  1828  by  James  Silk 
Buckingham  ;  soon  became  the  property  of  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke,  father  of 
the  first  and  grandfather  of  the  present  baronet  of  that  name.  His  talent  as  an 
editor  and  a  critic  raised  the  paper  to  the  position  it  now  holds  as  the  leading 

weekly  organ  of  the  literary  world — 
its  verdict  on  any  book  under  notice 
isj^  carrying  weight  not  only  with  every 
bookseller  and  librarian  in  England,  but 
also  with  the  publishers  and  readers  of  the  new  world.  The  present  Under 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  succeeded  his  father  in  the  proprietorship  of  the 
AthencEutn,  and  he  also  owns  Notes  and  Queries  and  a  great  part  of  the  Gar- 
dener's Chronicle  and  of  the  Agricultural  Gazette.  A  man  of  marked  literary 
ability,  he  is  understood  to  have  at  onetime  edited  the  Athenaum  himself; 
but  that  task,  which  requires  so  much  judgment  and  tact,  now  devolves  on 
another.     Hepworth  Dixon  was  editor  from  1853  to  1869. 

Baptist  Publications  :— I.  Baptist  (61,  Paternoster  Row,  E.G. ;  Weekly,  id.) 
2.  Freeman  (21,  Castle  Slreet,  Holborn ;  Weekly,  id.) 


Uu^^^^ 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         1 1 1 

Bazaar,  Exchange  and  Mart  (170,  Strand;  Wednesday  and  Saturday,  2d.), 
an  illustrated  and  admirably  arranged  medium  for  the  exchange  and  sale  of 
personal  property  by  private  persons.  Also  contains  articles  and  information 
on  practical  and  household  subjects.  Its  proprietors  are  the  representatives  of 
the  late  Serjeant  Cox. 

Belgravia  Magazine  (214,  Piccadilly,  W.  ;  Monthly,  is.),  established  in  1866, 
and  edited  for  some  time  by  Miss  Braddon,  from  whose  hands  it  passed  a  few 
years  ago  into  those  of  Messrs.  Chatto  and  Windus,  who  have  made  it  a  very 
bright  miscellany  of  light  literature. 

Biograph  (12,  Tavistock  Street,  Covent  Garden  ;  Monthly,  is.),  a  magazine 
almost  entirely  taken  up  with  the  biographies,  some  of  them  very  careful  and 
exhaustive,  of  persons  eminent  in  every  kind  of  career.  Established  in  1879, 
and  edited  by  Guy  Roslyn. 

Blackzoood' s  Edinburgh  Magazine  (37,  Paternoster  Row,  E.G.  ;  Monthly, 
2S.  6d.),  during  the  sixty-three  years  of  its  existence  has  perhaps  published  a 
larger  number  of  brilliant  contributions  than  any  other  periodical  of  the  kind. 
A  list  of  those  who  have  written  in  its  pages  would  be  an  enumeration  of  nearly 
all  the  names  celebrated  in  literature  during  the  last  half-century.  Blackwood 
gives  not  only  tales,  poems,  social  and  literary  essays,  but  also  striking 
political  articles,  with  a  strong  Conservative  bias,  in  spite  of  which,  however,  it 
scathingly  criticised  "  Lothair. " 

Boto  Bells  (315,  Strand;  Weekly,  id.)  is  described  as  a  family  magazine  of 
light  literature,  fiction,  fashion,  &c.  Messrs.  John  Dicks  and  George 
William  Reynolds  are  the  proprietors. 

Brief  {^1,  Great  Queen  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  2d.),  an  epitome  of  the 
press,  resembling  Public  Opinion  but  more  succinct  both  in  its  quotations  and 
in  its  original  matter,  first  issued  by  Messrs.  Wyman  and  Sons,  the  great 
printers,  in  1877.  Brief'is  intended  for  those  readers  who  have  no  time  for  the 
wordiness  of  the  modern  press. 


112  'Journals  and  'Journalism, 

British  Quarterly  Review  (27,  Paternoster  Row;  Quarterly,  6s.),  .1 
political  and  critical  review,  established  in  1844,  and  ably  conducted  upon 
Liberal  principles,  the  present  head  of  the  Liberal  party  having  himself  recently 
contributed  to  its  pages  an  interesting  paper  upon  the  Evangelical  origin  of  the 
Romeward  movement. 

CasseWs  Family  Magazine  (Ludgate  Hill,  E.C. ;  Monthly,  7d.),  a  popular 
collection  of  social  and  domestic  sketches,  novels,  stories,  essays  and  poems. 
This  periodical,  like  others  issued  by  the  same  firm,  bears  the  marks  of  the 
collective  wisdom  of  the  editorial  board  of  general  direction  which  exists  in  La 
Belle  Sauvage  Yard,  as  well  as  of  the  individual  care  of  the  one  editor  who 
has  it  under  his  especial  charge.  This  system  works  well ;  for  the  principle 
that  two  heads  are  better  than  one  is  never  more  applicable  than  to  the  conduct  of 
a  magazine  ;  and  the  board  of  general  direction,  which  aids  each  editor  where 
he  requires  it,  includes  not  only  men  of  wide  literary  experience  and  keen 
judgment,  but  men  of  commerce  also,  and  the  two  together  succeed  in  pro- 
ducing publications  which  are  at  once  literary  and  commercial  successes. 
By  the  editors  of  Messrs.  Cassell,  Fetter  and  Galpin's  magazines  communi- 
cations from  outsiders  always  receive  the  attention  they  deserve. 

Catholic  (Roman)  Publications: — I.  Catholic  Fireside  (83,  Fleet  Street; 
Monthly,  2d.),  an  illustrated  magazine  of  popular  literature,  taking  the  place 
among  Catholics  which  is  held  among  Protestants  by  the  Sunday  at  Home  and 
the  Leisure  Hour,  only  with  a  little  less  of  the  religious  element;  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Father  Nugent,  the  well-known  Catholic  Chaplain  of  the  Liverpool 
Borough  Gaol.  2.  Catholic  Progress  (17,  Portman  Street,  W. ;  Monthly,  3d.), 
edited  by  the  Rev.  Albany  J.  Christie,  M.A.,  an  Oxford  convert,  and  a  member 
of  the  Jesuit  community  attached  to  the  church  in  Farm  Street,  Grosvenor 
Square.  3.  Catholic  Times  (83,  Fleet  Street,  and  at  Liverpool,  where,  like  the 
Catholic  Fireside,  it  is  printed  at  the  Boys'  Refuge,  founded  by  Father  Nugent, 
the  proprietor  of   the   paper;  Weekly,   id.)     4.  Dublin  Review  (17,   Port- 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         113 

man  Street,  London,  W. ;  Quarterly,  6s.)  has  contained  much  memorable 
writing  since  its  early  days,  when  one  of  its  editors,  Cardinal  "Wiseman, 
contributed  to  its  pages  articles  which  were  eagerly  read  at  Oxford  by  an 
embryo  cardinal  even  greater  than  he,  then  vicar  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin  in 
the  University  city.  Dr.  W.  G.  Ward,  another  eminent  Oxford  convert  to 
Catholicism,  subsequently  edited  the  Diiblin,  but  on  extreme  lines,  which  were 
not  popular  with  the  bulk  of  his  co-religionists,  and  he  made  a  timely  retire- 
ment from  the  editorial  chair  (whence  he  had  spoken  as  if  ex  cathedra  to  those 
who  shared  his  Ultramontane  sjmipathies)  at  the  very  moment  when  the  liberal- 
minded  Leo  XIII.  succeeded  Pius  IX.  in  the  chair  of  Peter.  Bishop  Hedley, 
an  able  writer  and  clear  thinker,  has  since  then  conducted  the  Dublin,  at  the 
head  of  a  staff  which  includes  nearly  all  the  literary  talent  with  an  ecclesias- 
tical bias  to  be  found  in  his  communion.  5.  Irish  Monthly  (17,  Portman 
Street,  W.  ;  Monthly,  6d.),  a  bright  magazine  of  general  literature,  which, 
edited  by  the  Rev.  Father  Matthew  Russell,  S.J.  (brother  of  Mr.  Charles 
Russell,  Q.C.,M.P.),and  largely  contributed  toby  Miss  Rosa  Mulholland,  who 
successfully  tried  her  novice  hand  as  a  novelist  under  Charles  Dickens  in  All 
the  Year  Eotaid,  circulates  among  the  Catholics  of  England  in  spite  of  the 
green  cover  which  is  symbolic  of  its  Hibernian  spirit  and  name.  6.  Lattip  (47, 
Fetter  Lane,  E.C.  ;  Weekly,  id.),  an  illustrated  miscellany  of  popular  serial 
and  short  stories,  essays,  and  verse ;  the  property  of  an  Oxford  convert,  the 
Rev.  Father  William  Lockhart,  of  the  Order  of  Charity,  a  member  of  a  family 
that  has  given  a  great  name  to  English  literature  in  the  biographer  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott  and  the  editor  of  the  Qua?-terly.  7.  The  Month  (17,  Portman 
Street,  W. ;  2s.),  founded  in  1863,  and  edited  by  the  Rev.  Father  Coleridge, 
S.J.  (brother  of  the  Judge),  one  of  the  ablest  writers  and  preachers  of  his 
church.  8.  The  Tablet  (27,  Wellington  Street,  Strand ;  Weekly,  Sd.), 
founded  in  1840,  and  connected  in  its  early  history  with  the  name  of  the  late 
Frederic  Lucas,  M.P.,  one  of  the  few  men  who  have  taken  the  long  leap  from 


114  'Journals  and  'Journalism* 

Quakerism  to  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Tablet  is  now  ably  edited  and  sub- 
edited by  Oxford  converts,  one  of  whom  was  formerly  a  clergyman,  and  it 
may  be  fairly  described  as  a  Catholic  (and  Conservative)  counterpart  of  the 
Spectator.  9.  Weekly  Register  {\a,,  Catherine  Street,  Strand;  Weekly,  4d.), 
founded  in  1849,  the  late  Mr.  Henry  William  Wilberforce,  youngest  son  of 
the  great  anti-slavery  reformer,  being  its  proprietor  and  editor  from  1 854  to 
1863,— "in  this,  as  in  all  his  undertakings"  (says  his  friend,  Cardinal 
Newman),  "  actuated  by  an  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  interests  of  religion, 
though  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own."  The  Register  has  changed  hands  several 
times  since  then,  being  now  in  great  part  the  property  of  Mr.  De  Lacy  Towle. 
In  some  respects  a  Catholic  counterpart  of  The  Guardian,  the  Register  is 
now  edited  by  a  journalist  and  author  of  long  standing  and  distinction. 

Chambers^  Journal  (47,  Paternoster  Row ;  Monthly,  7d.)  has  been  cele* 
brated  for  the  popular  and  instructive  character  of  its  essays  and  tales  for 
nearly  half  a  century. 

Charing  Cross  Magazine  (S,  Friar  Street,  Broadway,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  6d,), 
of  miscellaneous  literature.     Established  in  1872. 

Church  of  England  Publications  :— i.  Church  Bells  (Paternoster  Buildings, 
E.C.;  Weekly,  id.)  2.  Church  Review  (ll,  Burleigh  Street,  W.C.  ; 
Weekly,  id.)  3.  Church  Tifnes  (32,  Little  Queen  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly, 
Id.)  The  two  latter  are  strong  party  newspapers,  with  Ritualistic  views.  4. 
Church  and  State  (Friar  Street,  Broadway,  E.G.;  Weekly,  id.).  Church  of 
England  articles,  stories,  essays,  and  reviews.  5.  Church  Sunday  School 
Magazine  (34,  New  Bridge  Street,  E.C.  ;  Monthly,  4d.),  for  Sunday  school 
teachers.  6.  Churchman's  Companion  (78,  New  Bond  Street ;  Monthly,  6d.), 
High  Church  ;  essays,  reviews,  and  tales.  Established  in  1847.  7.  Church- 
man's Shilling  Magazine  and  Family  Treasury  (T,  Paternoster  Buildings,  E.C. ; 
Monthly,  is.),  religious  articles,  verses,  reviews,  &c.  8.  Church  Quarterly 
Review  (New  Street  Square,  E.C;  6s.)    9.  Ecclesiastical  Gazette  (13,  Charing 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         115 


Cross,  S.W.  J  Monthly,  6d.  ;  sent  gratuitously  to  the  leading  clergy).  lo. 
English  Churchman  (2,  Tavistock  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  3d.)  II.  Friendly 
Leaves  (187,  Piccadilly ;  Monthly,  id.),  illustrated  magazine  for  working 
girls.  12.  Guardian  (5,  Burleigh  Street,  Strand;  Wednesday,  6d.),  was  es- 
tablished in  1846  by  several  Oxford 
men.  The  story  of  the  Guardian 
— its  early  struggles,  the  brilliance 
of  its  staff,  the  service  it  has  done 
to  high  Anglicanism  and  to  political  Liberalism,  the  distinctions  won  by  its 
proprietors — will,  when  written,  be  one  of  the  most  interesting,  if  not  romantic, 
chapters  in  a  detailed  history  of  journals  and  journalism.  An  organ  of  which 
any  party  may  be  proud,  the  Guardian  is  also  read  by  outsiders,  who  appreciate 
its  excellent  foreign  correspondence,  its  carefully-arranged  summary  of  news, 
and,  above  all,  its  notices  of  books,  which  are  among  the  very  best  that 
appear.  Mr.  Sharp  is  the  most  successful  of  editors,  and  he  evidently  has  a 
sub-editor  who  is  worthy  of  his  chief.  13.  John  Bull  [6,  Whitefriars  Street, 
E.G. ;  Weekly,  5d.),  avowedly  set  on  foot  in  1820  with  the  object  of  assail- 
ing Queen  Caroline  and  those  who  espoused  her  cause.  "  On  the  subject  of 
this  sickening  woman,"  politely  remarked yij/^w  Bull'xa.  an  early  number,  "we 
shall  enter  into  no  arguments  or  discussions,  because  they  go  for  nothing  at 
this  period  of  her  adventures."  The  law  of  libel  was  soon  made  unpleasantly 
familiar  to  the  registered  printers  and  proprietors  of  the  lively  paper,  which 
was  edited  by  Theodore  Hook.  He,  however,  disliked  to  be  known  as  the 
editor,  and  even  wrote  a  letter  to  his  own  columns  disavowing  his  connexion 
with  the  paper,  and  at  the  same  time  published  an  editorial  paragraph  calling 
attention  to  the  disavowal,  and  sneering  unmercifully  at  himself.  The  success 
oi  John  Bull  v{z.s  extraordinary,  its  circulation  amounting  to  10,000  in  the 
sixth  week  of  its  publication.  On  the  death  of  Queen  Carohne  in  1821,  the 
occupation  of  the  paper  was  gone ;  and  it  subsequently  changed  its  character 


1 1 6  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

so  far  as  to  become,  what  it  now  is,  a  Church  of  England  newspaper,  14. 
Literary  Churchman  (163,  Piccadilly,  W.  ;  Fortnightly,  4d.),  reviews  of 
books  and  articles  on  Church  topics;  high  intone.  15.  Monthly  Packet  of 
Evening  Readings  {6,  Va.\.e.xnositt  Ro-vi ;  is.),  High  Church  magazine  of  reli- 
gious and  general  reading.  i6.  Parish  Magazine  (2,  Paternoster  Building?, 
E.C. ;  Monthl)^  id.).  Church  of  England  family  magazine,  localized  in  several 
places.  17.  Record  (i.  Red  Lion  Court,  Fleet  Street ;  Monday,  Wednesday, 
and  Friday,  2jd.),  an  Evangelical  journal  which  was  once,  strange  to  say, 
contributed  to  by  his  Eminence  Cardinal  Newman.  Hence  the  Record  dates 
back  into  the  dim  past,  having  been  born  in  1828,  five  years  before  there  was 
any  Oxford  Movement  to  vex  its  soul.  18.  Rock  (Southampton  Street,  W.C. ; 
Weekly,  id.),  a  Low  Church  journal ;  formerly  belonged  to  Mr.  Colling- 
ridge,  but  recently  changed  hands,  and  has  lost  in  the  transfer  some  of  its 
old  spice. 

Colburn's  New  Monthly  3/agazi»e 
(11,  Ave  Maria  Lane,  E.C.  ;  Monthly, 
2s.  6d.),  essays,  reviews,  &c.  Edited 
by  Guy  Roslyn. 

Contemporary  Revie-u  {^^,  Faternostei  Row  ;  Monthly,  2s.  6d.),  established 
in  1866,  and  was  edited  for  some  time  by  Dean  Alford  ;  his  place  was  taken 
in  1870  by  Mr.  James  Knowles,  whose  connection  with  the  magazine  ceased 
seven  years  later.  The  conduct  of  the  Contemporary,  which  is  admirably 
arranged  with  a  view  to  representing  all  shades  of  religious,  political,  and 
philosophical  opinion,  has  since  been  undertaken  in  great  part  by  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Strahan,  its  publisher  and  proprietor. 

Cornhill  Magazine  (15,  Waterloo  Place,  S.W.  ;  Monthly,  is.),  an  illus- 
trated miscellaneous  magazine,  started  in  i860,  under  Thackeray's  editorship, 
with  brilliant  success.  It  was  able,  being  almost  unique  of  its  kind  at  the  time, 
to  command  the  foremost  pens  and  pencils  of  all  England.     Thackeray  himself. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         117 

John  Ruskin,  George  Eliot,  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning,  Matthew  Arnold, 
Anthony  Trollope,  and  Mrs.  Gaskell,  were  among  the  writers,  whose  works  were 
illustrated  by  Millais,  Leighton,  Fred  Walker,  Doyle,  Du  Maurier.  Of  the 
first  number  over  110,000  were  sold.  In  its  pages  have  appeared  from  time  to 
time  several  of  the  classical  novels  of  the  day,  and  some  of  the  best  essays. 
Under  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Leslie  Stephen,  the  son-in-law  oftha»first  editor,  the 
magazine  has  kept  up  its  old  prestige,  with  the  addition,  perhaps,  of  a  little  more 
cultivation  of  modern  "restheticism. "  Thackeray's  tradition  of  liberality  has 
been  followed  uniformly  in  the  CornhilCs  dealings  with  its  contributors. 

Country  and  Sporting  Publications  ; — I.  Agricultural  Eco7tomist{arT,  Mill- 
bank  Street,  Westminster  ;  Weekly,  6d.)  2.  Bell's  Life  in  London  (9,  Catherine 
Street,  Strand ;  Weekly,  4d.)  3.  BelPs  Weekly  Messenger  (26,  Catherine 
Street,  Strand;  Weekly,  6d.)  4.  C(?««^;j  (170,  Strand;  Weekly,  3d.)  5. 
Country  Gentleman'' s  Magazine  {13A,  Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  Street ;  Monthly, 
IS.)  6.  Farmer  (13A,  Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  5d.)  7. 
Field  (346,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  established  in  1864  ;  one  of  the  fine  news- 
paper properties  which  Serjeant  Cox  left  behind  him.  8.  Fishing  Gazette 
(II,  Ave  Maria  Lane,  E.C.  ;  Weekly,  2d.)  9.  Floral  Magazine  (5,  Henri- 
etta Street,  W.C;  Monthly,  3s.  6d.)  10.  Floral  World  (Groombridge  and 
Sons,  Paternoster  Row;  Monthly,  6d.)  11.  Garden  (37,  Southampton 
Street,  W.C;  Weekly,  6d.)  12.  Gardener  (37,  Paternoster  Row  ;  Monthly, 
6d.)  13.  Gardeners  Chronicle  (41,  Wellington  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  5d.) 
14.  Gardenei^s  Magazine  (ll,  Ave  Maria  Lane,  E.G.;  Weekly,  2d.)  15. 
Horticultural  Recoi-d  (;^l'j.  Strand  ;  Weekly,  id.)  16.  Illustrated  Sporting 
and  Dramatic  News  (148,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  founded  in  1873,  and 
belonged  at  one  time  to  Mr.  Ingram,  of  the  Illustrated  London  A^ews.  17. 
Journal  of  Horticulture  (171,  Fleet  Street;  Weekly,  3d.)  18.  Land  and 
Water  (176,  Fleet  Street  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  an  entertaining  paper,  the  fishing 
and  natural  history  department  of  which  is  conducted  by  Mr.  Frank  Buckland. 


1 1 8  'Journals  and  Journalism, 

19.  Magnet  (19,  Exeter  Street,  W.C;  Weekly,  s^d.)  20.  Referee  (17, 
Wine  Office  Court,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.),  an  exceedingly  smartly 
written  journal  of  sport,  politics,  and  the  drama.  21.  Sporting  Gazette  and 
Agricultural  Journal  (135,  Strand;  Weekly,  4d.),  started  in  1862;  contains 
portraits  of  sporting  celebrities.  22.  Sporting  Life  (148,  Fleet  Street ;  Wednes- 
day and  Saturday,  id.)  23.  Sporting  Opinion  (61,  Fleet  Street ;  Monday,  id.) 
24.  Sporting  Times  (52,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  2d.)  25.  Sportsman  (Boy 
Court,  Ludgate  Hill ;  on  Saturday,  3d.;  on  other  days,  2d.) 

Court  Circular  (2,  Southampton  Street,  Strand ;  Weekly,  5d.),  was  started 
in  1856,  as  a  rival  of  the  Court  Journal.  Its  first  editor  was  Mr,  H.  Prender- 
gast ;  and  a  little  more  than  ten  years  after  its  first  appearance  it  was  sold  to 
Mr.  Edward  Walford,  who,  after  editing  it  for  a  short  time,  re-sold  it  to  Mr. 
W.  H.  Stephens. 

Court  Journal  (36,  Tavistock  Street,  W.C;  Weekly,  5d.),  an  occasion- 
ally illustrated  record  of  Court  and  fashion,  which  has  existed  since  1829. 

Daily  Chronicle  (Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  Street ;  id.)  This  paper  was 
established  as  the  Clerkenwell  News  in  1855,  vmder  which  title  it  was  con- 
tinued until  Mr.  Lloyd  (of  Lloyd's  Weekly  News)  purchased  it,  and  issued  it 
daily  under  its  new  designation,  no  longer  as  a  local  organ,  but  as  a  Liberal 
paper  for  the  public  in  general.  The  success  attending  the  transition  has  been 
great,  and  Mr.  Lloyd  has  now  two  fine  newspaper  properties  instead  of  one. 

Daily  News  (Bouverie  Street,  E.C. ;  Daily,  id.)  had  the  distinction  of 
being  introduced  to  the  world,  in  1846,  by  Charles  Dickens  as  its  first  editor. 
Among  its  proprietors  were  Messrs.  Bradbury  and  Evans,  Sir  William 
Jackson,  M.P.,  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  and  Sir  Joshua  Walmsley  ;  its  manager 
was  Mr.  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke,  the  member  for  Chelsea's  grandfather  ; 
and  among  its  prominent  writers — who  were  all  very  handsomely  remunerated 
— were  John  Forster,  Harriet  Martineau  (one  of  the  very  few  ladies  who 
have  written  political  leaders),  and  Mr.  M'Cullagh  Torrens,  Finsbury's  M.P. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         119 

Charles  Dickens  did  not  make  a  good  editor  for  a  daily,  and  the  chair  he 

vacated  after  an  occupancy  of  only  a  few  months  was  subsequently  filled  by 

John  Forster,  and  then  by  Knight  Hunt,  author  of  "  The  Fourth  Estate." 

During  the  first  years  of  its  existence  the  Daily  News  was  published  at  great 

pecuniary  sacrifice — successive  changes  in  its  price  from  5d.  to  2^d.,  from  2^d. 

to   3d.,  and   back  again  to  5d.   proving   ineffectual   to  transform  losses  into 

profits.     As   a   penny  paper  the  Daily  News  has   found  its  right   field,    and 

fulfilled  its   mission  ;   it  is   now  not   only   a  literary  but  also  a  commercial 

success.      Its  circulation  is  known  to  have  largely  increased  since  the  General 

Election,  political  papers  being  always  benefited  by  their  own  party's  tenure 

of  power.     The  present  editor,   Mr.   Frank  Harrison  Hill,  was  formerly  a 

leader-writer  on  its  staff,  and  is  well-known  as  a  political  writer.     Mr.  J.  R. 

Robinson   may  claim   to   share  with  Mr. 

Hill  the  credit  attaching  to  the  conduct  of       J^^,-^    ^f^~)  r->      ^ 

the  Daily  News;  for  it  is  largely  to  his    (^y^^^'c^><Oy^^^^^'^'^^'^ 

great    qualities  as   a    manager    that    the 

prestige    of    the    paper   is    due.      He    it    is    who  has  gathered   men  like 

Archibald  Forbes  (whose  accompanying 

autograph  the  reader  may  well  imagine  /].  r— \  * 

to  have  been  penned  amid  the  heat  and  '-^f -C     ^  wl/VXC'"'-^ 

hurry    of  a  battle)  and  W.    H.   Lucy  -^ 

(who  writes  the  Parliamentary  summary  for  its  columns)  round  the  office  in 
Bouverie    Street.      Among    the   present  pro- 
prietors of  the  Daily  News  are  Sir  Charles     Hh-'Z^r-'^ 
Reed,  Mr.   Samuel  Morley,  and  Mr.  Labou-    ^v       ^"^^     '■^^^■^^^■^ 
chere,  the  latter  being  the  Besieged  Resident 

who    contributed  to  its  columns    a  graphic  account   of   Paris  during    the 
Commune. 

Daily  Telegraph  (135,  Fleet  Street  ;  Daily,  id.),  started  in  1855  by  Colonel 


120  'Journals  and  'Journaltsm. 

Sleigh,  who  had  the  bad  luck  which  is  almost  the  rule  in  the  case  of  the 
founders  of  new  papers.  After  running  the  Daily  Telegraph  and  Courier  (as 
it  was  then  called)  at  only  twopence  (an  unprecedented  price  in  those  days) 
until  he  could  run  it  no  longer,  the  Colonel  resigned  it  into  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Levy,  one  of  his  creditors.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a  toss  up  with  Mr.  Levy 
whether  he  should  take  the  paper — a  toss  up,  that  is,  whether  he  would  or  would 
not  make  himself  the  master  of  a  magnificent  fortune.  For  the  Telegraph  pros- 
pered under  new  management.  The  advertisements  in  its  columns  then 
brought  in  a  daily  revenue  of  7/6,  but  now  they  bring,  according  to  Mr.  Grant, 
a  sum  of  about  ^^500  ;  and  the  literary  scope  and  excellence  of  the  paper  has 
increased  in  like  proportion.  One  of  Mr.  Levy's  early  acts  was  to  halve  the 
price  of  the  Telegraph,  which  made  a  sensation  by  supplying  for  a  penny  a 
double  sheet  similar  to  that  for  which  the  Times  charged  fourpence.  The 
abolition  of  the  paper  duty  added  to  the  profits  of  the  new  daily  many  thousands 
of  pounds  a  year,  and  also  enabled  the  proprietors  to  print  on  better  material 
than  before.     The  circulation  of  the  Telegraph  is  the  largest  in  the  world  ;  its 

social,  chatty  articles  giving  it  a  charm 
for  the  general  reader.  Largely  con- 
tributed to  by  the  king  of  journalists,  Mr. 
George  Augustus  Sala,  the  Telegraph  is 
conducted  by  Mr.  Edward  L.  Lawson,  aided  by  Mr.  Edwin  Arnold,  C.S.I., 
and  a  well  organized  staff. 

Day  of  Rest  (34,  Paternoster  Row,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  6d.),  general  literature 
for  Sunday  reading.  Describes  itself  as  "  Unsectarian, "  a  term  which,  in  the 
case  of  several  publications  (perhaps  the  Day  of  Rest  \%  one  of  them),  would 
often  mislead  High  Anglicans  or  Catholics  who  supposed  it  meant  toleration 
for  any  theology  which  was  not  either  Low  or  Broad. 

Echo  (22,  Catherine  Street,  W.C.  ;  Evening,;  ^d.),  founded  by  Messrs. 
Cassell,  Fetter  &  Galpin  in  1868,  edited  by  Mr.  Arthur  Arnold,  now  member 


ow;  ^^w^ 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.        1 2 1 

for  Salford,  and  sub-edited  by  Mr.  G.  Barnett  Smith,  an  able  and  industrious 
litterateur.  Mr.  J.  Passmore  Edwards,  M.P.,  now  owns  the  Echo  and  edits  it 
with  verve. 

Economist  (340,  Strand,  W.C. ;  Weekly,  3d.),  a  journal  of  commerce, 
mining,  political  economy,  &c.,  established  in  1843. 

Edinburgh  Review  (39,  Paternoster  Row;  Quarterly,  6s.),  established  in  1802, 
under  circumstances  which  everyone  remembers.  Jeffrey,  Brougham,  Macaulay, 
had  talent  enough  between  them  to  produce  a  publication  that  was  striking  and 
readable  enough  in  its  day,  though  the  absence  of  current  interest  makes  a 
perusal  of  the  great  bulk  of  its  articles  in  the  old  numbers  a  trifle  tedious 
now.  How  Brougham  was  jealous  of  all  his  fellow  contributors,  especially 
disliking  Macaulay,  whom  he  called  the  biggest  bore  in  London,  and  how 
Macaulay  reciprocated  the  hostile  feeling,  is  all  told  in  the  correspondence  of 
Macvey  Napier,  editor  of  the  Edinburgh  for  many  years,  and  is  not  one  of 
the  pleasantest  chapters  in  literary  history.  In  this  quarterly,  as  in  its  great 
Tory  rival,  the  articles  are  always  headed  by  the  title  of  a  book,  or  of  a  number 
of  books  ;  but  one  occasionally  suspects  that  one  is  really  perusing  an  original 
essay,  rather  than  a  review.  In  fact,  Macaulay  owned  that  he  ignored  his 
author  when,  in  devoting  a  hundred  pages  of  the  Edinburgh  to  what  pur- 
ported to  be  a  notice  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Warren  Hastings, 
by  the  Reverend  G.  R.  Gleig,"  he  introduced  an  eloquent  disquisition  on 
Indian  history  with  the  candid  avowal,  "  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  we 
shall  best  meet  the  wishes  of  our  readers  if,  instead  of  dwelling  upon  the 
faults  of  this  book,  we  attempt  to  give  our  own  view  of  the  life  and  character 
of  Mr.  Hastings  ;  "  nor  does  Mr.  Gleig's  name  appear  more  than  three  times 
in  the  whole  paper.  The  Edinburgh  has  been  edited  for  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century  by  Mr.  Henry  Reeve,  C.B.,  the  eminent  litterateur,  to  whom 
Charles  Greville  confided  his  celebrated  "Journal"  for  publication. 

Educational  Publications  : — I.  Educational  Times  {1,  Gough  Square,  E.G.  ; 

F 


1 2  2  'Journals  and  Journalism. 


^^P^tc/i-^-i^ 


Monthly,  6d.)     2,    Scholastic    World  (i,   Wine  Office  Court,  Fleet   Street  ; 

Monthly,  2d.)  3.  School  Board  Chronicle 

(72,  TummillSt.,  E.G.;  Weekly,    3d.), 

the  organ  of  the  School  Boards,  edited 

by  Mr.  R.  Gowing,  formerly  editor  of 

Gentleman^ s  Magazine.    4.  Schoolmaster  (14,  Red  Lion  Court  ;  Weekly,  id.) 

Examiner  (lid,  Strand;  Weekly,  3d.)  has  a  notable  history,  both  literary 

and  political,  which  dates  back  nearly  to  the  beginning  of  the  century.    When 

Leigh  Hunt  edited  the  paper,  Byron  and  Shelley  were  interestingly  connected 

with  it,  the  latter  declaring  that  his  poems 

/     ^      /         //^        JL,—-^  were  not  thought  good  enough  by  Leigh 

(X^C^jAl^  (yfli/^'Z      Hunt     to     be     printed     there!       The 

^  Examiner,     long    the  property    of  Mr. 

Peter  Taylor,  the  Radical  M.P.,  has  recently  changed  hands  more  than  once, 

and  has  also  halved  its  price.  Both 
the  Examiner  and  Life  are  under 
the  editorial  direction  of  Mr.  Charles 
Williams,  who  has  done  good  work 
as  a  war  correspondent,  and  in  other  walks  of  his  profession. 

Family  Herald  (421,  Strand;  Weekly,   id,),  an  old-established  journal  of 
popular  tales  and  essays. 

Family  Reader  (300,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  id.),  an  illustrated  miscellany  of  stories 
and  essays. 

Fortnightly  Review  (193,  Piccadilly  ;  Monthly,  2s.  6d.),  ably  edited  by  Mr. 
John  Morley,  a  Radical  in  politics  and  a  Positivist  in  religion. 

Eraser's  Magazine  (39,  Paternoster  Row  ;    Monthly,  2s.  6d.),   political  and 
social  essays  ;  lately  edited  by  W.  Allingham,  and  now  by  Principal  Tulloch. 
Freemason  (198,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  2d.) 
Freemason^s  Chronicle  (67,  Barbican,  E.G.  ;  Weekly,  3d.) 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         123 

Fun  (153,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.),  established  in  i860,  and,  in  its  illus- 
tration department,  especially  memorable  for  the  drawings  of  Mr.  Sullivan. 

Funny  Folks  (Red  Lion  Court,  Fleet  .^  c;;;;*^ 

Street ;  Weekly,    id.),   edited   by    Mr.  [jj  ^^^^X^aJUU\%>  ^UaAAM 
William  Sawyer,  who  has  written  much  f       .  \ 

and  well  in  prose  and  verse.  ^"''^ 

Genealogist  (55,  Great  Russell  Street,  W.C.  ;  Quarterly,  2s.  6d.) 

Gentleman's  Magazine  {:z\\,  Piccadilly  ;  Monthly,  is.)  has  a  splendid  history, 
dating  from  1731,  about  which  a  volume  might  be  written.  It  has  altered  its 
character  of  late  years,  and  no  longer  contains  that  chronicle  of  contemporary 
events  which  makes  the  back  volumes  so  valuable  now,  but  is  wholly  occupied 
with  high-class  general  literature. 

Globe  (no.  Strand  ;  Evening,  id.),  started  in  1802  by  the  London  publishers, 
who  considered  themselves  uncivilly  treated  by  the  Morning  Post,  then  their 
principal  advertising  medium.  The  John  Murray  of  that  day  was  one  of  its 
great  supporters  ;  but  the  paper's  want  of  success  soon  led  to  the  falling  away 
of  most  of  the  publishers,  and  Mr.  Lane,  the  manager,  had  an  almost  lonely 
struggle  before  he  put  the  Globe  upon  a  commercially  sound  basis.  With  the 
Globe  has  been  incorporated  the  Traveller,  and  several  other  evening  papers, 
which  were  obliged  to  relinquish  a  separate  existence.  For  the  first  sixty 
years  of  its  issue  the  Globe  was  a  Liberal  paper,  and  its  change  to  the  other 
political  side  caused  as  much  comment  as  the  recent  and  contrary  transition  of 
the  Pall  Mall.  Once  upon  a  time  a  past  editor  of  the  Globe  had  a  furious 
controversy  with  D'Israeli  the  younger  ;  but  the  Lord  Beaconsfield  of  to-day  has 
few  more  able  and  sincere  admirers  than  the  editor  and  staff  of  the  pink  sheet. 

Good  Words  (56,  Ludgate  I^ill  ; 
Monthly,  6d.),  a  magazine  of  literature, 
fiction,  essays,  poetry,  &c,,  which  has 
9    large    circulation,    and    which     remu- 


124  Journals  and  Journalism, 

nerates   its   distinguished   writers  with   marked  liberality.      It  is  edited   by 
Dr.  McLeod,  who  is  substantially  assisted  in  that  task  by  Mr.  Alexander  H. 
Japp— himself  a  delightful  writer.       Good  Words,  as  its  name  would  imply,  is 
.y  strongly    tinged    with  religion,   and   is 

y<    /  y  /^AiU        /  '^'^'^^^^^^  *^°  supply  Sunday  reading  to 

^ UUlAdiyhl/r^^'^^  pious  households  which  are  yet 

'*  not  so  strict  as  to  taboo  the  secular 
interest  of  Mr.  Black's  novels  (Mr.  Black  has  been  a  busy  journalist  in  his 
day),  and  of  briskly-written  sketches  of  travel  and  adventure. 

Graphic  (190,  Strand ;  Weekly,  6d.)  divides  with  the  Illustrated  London 
News  a  particular  field  of  illustrated  journalism,  and  is  planned  upon  much 
the  same  lines  as  its  contemporary  and  competitor.  The  latter,  until  the 
Graphic  started,  had  had  no  rival  except  the  Illustrated  Times,  which  was 
short-lived,  in  spite  of  its  excellent  letterpress.  Our  business  being  here 
entirely  with  the  literary  part  of  the  paper,  we  will  say  nothing  of  the 
engravings,  which  (under  the  management  of  Mr.  Thomas)  are,  of  course,  its 
distinguishing  feature.  Its  tone  is  decidedly  light ;  its  articles  are  chatty  and 
of  the  widest  range ;  it  contains  batches  of  paragraphs  upon  the  current 
topics  of  the  day,  vers  de  societe,  and  a  quantity  of  attractive  scraps  of  all 
kinds.      It  is  not  closed  to  the  efforts  of  aspiring  outsiders.      The  Graphic, 

edited  by  Mr.  Arthur  Locker,  brother  of  the 

l^l^'yf^t^^?^    /^--tVi!^^^    author  of  the    popular  "London  Lyrics," 

^\y  and  himself  a  poet,  has  succeeded  brilliantly 

from    its    first   number,  both   here   and  in 

America,   whither  it  is  regularly   sent   in   stereotype   to  be  reprinted   there. 

Hand  and  Heart  {i,  Paternoster  Buildings,  E.G.;  Weekly,  id.),  a  popular 

"journal  of  news  and  entertaining  literature." 

House  and  Home  (335,    Strand  ;  Weekly,  id.),  an  occasionally  illustrated 
journal  of  sanitation,  house  improvement,  and  domestic  economy. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         125 

Illustrated  London  News  (198,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  founded  in  1842  by 
Mr.  Ingram,  who — like  his  son,  the  present  proprietor  of  the  paper — repre- 
sented Boston  in  Parliament.  At  first  a  struggling  enterprise,  at  times  almost 
parted  with  in  despair  for  a  trifling  sum,  the  Illustrated  developed  into  a 
splendid  property.  It  is  no  hyperbole  to  say  that  it  is  known  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken,  and  that  it  circulates  with  the  sun.  Its  letter- 
press combines  the  solid  and  the  light ;  it  often  contains  art  criticism  of  quite 
unusual  excellence,  and  Mr.  Sala's  altogether  distinctive  pen  has  lately 
brightened  its  pages  with  paragraphs  on  the  current  topics  of  the  week. 

Jewish  Publications: — X.Jewish  Chronicle  {^"i,  Finsbury  Square;  Weekly, 
ad.)      2.  Jewish  World  (8,  South  Street,  Finsbury  ;  Weekly,  id.) 

Judy  (73,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  2d.),  an  illustrated  humorous  journal. 

Juvenile  publications  of  all  kinds  exist  in  such  enormous  numbers  that  we 
excuse  ourselves  from  making  a  list  of  them  here  ;  the  more  willingly  because 
they  are  so  low  in  price  that  an  amateur  ordering  a  shilling's-worth  at  his 
bookseller's  will  obtain  a  bundle  of  such  publications,  and  be  able  to  examine 
the  character  of  their  columns  before  becoming  a  candidate  for  a  place  in 
them. 

Kensington  (ii,  Stationers'  Hall  Court,  E.G.;  Monthly,  6d.),  a  literary 
magazine  and  review,  edited  by  Mrs.  Leith  Adams. 

Ladies'  Publications: — i.  Englishwoman' s  Domestic  Magazine  (Dorset  Build- 
ings, Salisbury  Square,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  is.),  illustrated  miscellany  of  litera- 
ture, fashions,  and  needlework.  2.  Englishwoman'' s  Reviezn  of  Social  and 
Industrial  Questions  (57,  Ludgate  Hill ;  Monthly,  6d.),  advocates  the  ad- 
vancement of  women.  3.  Ladies'  Treasury  and  Treasury  of  Literature  (10, 
Paternoster  Buildings,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  6d.),  literature,  domestic  economy, 
and  fashion,  i^.  Myra^s  Journal  of  Dress  and  Fashion  {\q,  Bedford  Street, 
W.  G. ;  Monthly,  3d.)  5.  Queen  (346,  Strand;  Weekly,  6d.),  a  large  and 
singularly    complete   ladies'   newspaper ;     one   of  the   splendid  journalistic 


126  Journals  and 'Journalism. 

properties  of  the  late  Serjeant  Cox,  and  now  owned  by  his  representatives.  It 
frequently  contains  ably-written  articles,  and  a  capital  collection  of  general 
news,  so  that  it  is  by  no  means  despised  by  the  husbands  and  fathers  and 
brothers  of  its  subscribers.  In  its  feminine  departments — presided  over  by  a 
most  able  editress,  under  whose  conduct  the  paper  has  risen  to  its  present 
eminent  position — it  is  at  once  practical,  artistic,  housewdfely,  and  millinerial. 
6.  Sylvia's  Home  Journal  (Dorset  Buildings,  Salisbury  Square,  E.G.  ; 
Monthly,  6d.),  a  ladies'  journal  of  tales,  stories,  patterns,  and  fashions.  7. 
Woman's  Gazette,  or  News  about  Work  (187,  Piccadilly,  W.  ;  Monthly,  2d.), 
advocates  the  advancement  and  employment  of  woman.  8.  Young  Ladies' 
Journal  [IZS,  Salisbury  Square,  E.G.  ;  Weekly,  id.),  fashions,  needlework, 
and  tales. 

Legal  Publications:— I.  Law  Journal  (5,  Quality  Gourt,  Ghancery  Lane; 
Weekly,  6d.)  2.  Law  Times  (10,  Wellington  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  is.), 
was  the  property  of  the  late  Serjeant  Gox. 

Leisure  Hour  (56,  Paternoster  Row;  Monthly,  6d.),  a  well-conducted 
illustrated  magazine  of  stories  and  popular  essays  for  family  reading. 

Life  (136,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  one  of  the  society  papers,  started  in  1879, 
and  soon  distinguished  by  the  pretty  phototype  reproductions  of  fair  faces, 
generally  drawn  by  Frank  Miles,  and  of  Continental  pictures.  Mr.  R.  Davey, 
a  journalist  with  a  reputation  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic,  was  in  a  sense  the 
literary  father  of  Life,  but  it  was  eventually  produced  under  the  editorial 
care  of  Mr.  H.  P.  Stephens.  The  paper  was  recently  transferred  from  its  first 
proprietors  to  the  owner  of  the  Examiner,  and  both  papers  are  conducted 
under  the  same  roof. 

Literary  World  (13,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.),  a  popular  journal  of 
literature,  containing  notices  of  books,  and  articles  of  literary  interest. 

Lloyd's  Weekly  London  Newspaper  (12,  Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  St. ;  Sunday, 
Id.),    a   Liberal  paper  for   the   people.     The  editorial   chair   left   vacant  in 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.  127 

1857   by  the  death  of  Douglas  Jerrold  was  filled  by  his  son,   Mr.   Blanchard 
Jerrold,  who  has  written  much  for   the  Daily  ^ 

News,   the    Morning  Post,    the    Gentleman's   t     /)  f      ^/V>^ 

Magazine,    the  Athenceum,    and    is    also   the  J^jaj.  JU  Q/*^  I/^  ^^^ 
author  of  many  well-known  works.  -  -  ^ 

London  Figaro  (35,  St.  Bride  St.,  E.G. ;  Weekly,  id.),  a  smartly-written 
political,  critical,  and  satirical  journal,  edited  by  Mr.  J.  Mortimer,  who  was 
recently  imprisoned  /or  publishing  Mrs.  Weldon's  statements  about  certain 
domestic  affairs. 

London  Jou7-nal  (332,  Strand;  Weekly,  id.),  a  miscellany  of  fiction  and 
popular  papers,  established  in  1845. 

London  Reader  (334,  Strand ;  Weekly,  id.),  an  illustrated  journal  of  light 
literature. 

London  Society  (188,  Fleet  Street ;  Monthly,  is.),  a  magazine  of  general 
literature,     lately     edited     by      Florence  ^  ^,<^^ 

Marryat,  and  now  by  Mr.  Hogg ;  it  is  the      ^;^>>— ^'V— --''  c/r~''^^^~^ 
lightest  of  the  shilling  monthlies,  for  while  //  ^/T 

the  others  always  introduce  more  or  less 

solid  padding  into  their  numbers,  London  Society  frankly  eschews  everything 
that  is  not  amusing. 

Macmillan' s Magazine  (29,  Bedford  Street,  Covent  Garden;  Monthly,  is.), 
since  its  foundation  in  1859,  has  contained  stories  and  essays  of  great  merit. 
Edited  by  Mr.  Grove,  who  succeeded  Professor  David  Masson,  Mac?nillan's 
takes  a  high  literary  place  among  its  contemporaries,  which  are  also  in  a  sense 
its  imitators. 

Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Publications  : — I.  Design  and  Work  (41, 
Tavistock  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  2d.)  2.  Engineer  (163,  Strand  ;  Weekly, 
6d.)  3.  Engineering  and  Building  Times  (125,  Fleet  St. ;  Weekly,  2d.) 
4.  English  Mechanic  and  World  of  Science  (31,  Tavistock  St.,  W.C. ;  Weekly, 
2d.)     5.  Iron  (12,  Fetter  Lane,  E.G. ;  Weekly,  6d.) 


128  yournals  and  Journalism, 


Z  /.  J^eM:sZi. 


Medical  Publications: — British  Medical  Journal  {i6i  A,  Strand;  Weekly, 
6d.),  official  organ  of  the  British  Medical  Association.  2.  Health  (Sheffield 
Street,  Lincoln's  Inn  ;  Monthly,  id.),  family  magazine  of  sanitary  and  social 
interest.  3.  Herald  of  Health  (429,  Oxford  Street ;  Monthly,  id.),  maga- 
zine of  sanitary  and  social  science. 
Edited  by  Dr.  T.  L.  Nichols,  who, 
besides  being  a  successful  author,  has 
done  journalistic  work  as  London  cor- 
respondent of  a  New  York  paper,  and  in  other  ways.  4.  Homeopathic  World 
(2,  Finsbury  Circus,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  6d.)  ^.  Journal  of  Mental  Science  (il, 
New  Burlington  Street,  W.  ;  Quarterly,  3s.  6d.),  organ  of  the  Medico- 
Psychological  Association,  6.  Za«f^^  (423,  Strand  ;  "Weekly,  7d.),  the  leading 
organ  of  the  medical  profession.  7.  Medical  Times  and  Gazette  (11,  New 
Burlington  Street,  W. ;  Weekly,  6d.)  8.  Monthly  Homoeopathic  Review  (59, 
Moorgate  Street,  E.G.;  is.) 

Methodist  Publications:—!.  Methodist  (317,  Strand^;  Weekly,  id.)  2. 
Methodist  Recorder  (161,  Fleet  St. ;  Weekly,  id.)  3.  Primitive  Methodist 
(4,  Wine  Office  Gourt,  Fleet  St. ;  Weekly,  id.)  4.  Watchman  (i6i.  Fleet 
St.;  Weekly,  3d.) 

Morning  Advertiser  (127,  Fleet  Street ;  Daily,  3d.),  the  organ  of  the 
Licensed  Victuallers;  it  was  established  in  1794  by  a  society  of  that  fraternity, 
every  member  agreeing  to  take  in  the  paper  daily,  and  each  member  to  be 
entitled  to  a  share  in  the  profits.  Down  to  1850  the  paper  circulated  only 
among  publicans  and  the  lower  class  of  coffise-house  keepers  ;  but  at  that  date 
an  effort  was  m.ade  to  extend  its  operations.  The  paper  was  enlarged  and 
improved,  and  a  circulation  of  under  5,000  copies  grew  in  four  years  until  it  was 
nearly  doubled,  and  the  1,500  or  1,600  proprietors  were  dividing  a  profit  of 
;^i2,ooo  a  year.  The  late  Mr.  James  Grant  was  for  many  years  editor  of  the 
Morning  Advertiser,  and  which  was  at  one  time  contributed  to  by  Lord 
Brougham. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         129 

Morning  Post  {12,  Wellington  St.,  W.C.  ;  Daily,  3d.),  a  political,  general 
and  fashionable  newspaper;  was  founded  so  long  ago  as  1772,  and  when  first 
issued  was  the  size  of  one  sheet  of  the  Fall  Mall  Gazette  of  to-day.  At  one 
period  in  its  history  the  paper  was  owned  in  part  by  the  Prince  Regent,  whose 
breakfast-table  literature  at  Carlton  House,  according  to  one  of  our  poets, 
consisted  of  "  Death  warrants  and  the  Morning  Post."  Its  writers  in  the  past 
have  included  Charles  Lamb,  Southey,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Wordsworth, 
Tom  Moore,  Praed  and  Coleridge,  the  latter  being  one  of  successive  and 
successful  editors.  When  the  venerable  paper  celebrated  its  centenary  on 
Nov.  2nd,  1872,  it  devoted  several  columns  to  a  most  interesting  account  of  its 
own  history.  With  Sir  Algernon 
Borthwick  for  its  present  proprietor 
and  editor,  and  with  an  able  staff  at 
his  side,  the  Post  maintains  its  old ' 
prestige,  and  never  carried  more  ^^^' 
weight  with  its  political,  social,  and  literary  verdicts  than  it  does  now. 

Music  :— I.  Musical  Standard  (185,  Fleet  Street  ;  Weekly,  3d.)  2. 
Musical  Titties  (i,  Berners  Street,  W.  ;  Monthly,  3d.)  3.  Musical  World 
(244,  Regent  Street;  Weekly,  4d.) 

Nature  (29,  Bedford  Street,  Strand;  Weekly,  6d.)  deals  with  scientific 
discoveries  and  books.  Published  by  Messrs.  Macmillan  &  Co. ,  and  edited  by 
Dr.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  Nature  is  quite  the  best  organ  for  the  class  of  readers 
for  whom  it  is  particularly  designed. 

Nineteetith  Century  (i,  Paternoster  Square;  Monthly,  2S.  6d.),  founded  and 
edited  by  Mr.  James  Knowles,an  able  man,  who  was  formerly  an  architect,  having 
built,  among  other  places,  the  Surrey  residence  of  Mr.  Alfred  Tennyson,  his  great 
friend  and  the  contributor  to  his  periodical.  Mr.  Knowles  formerly  edited  the 
Contemporary,   which  the  Nineteenth   Century  resembles  in  its  general  scope  *, 

F    2 


n 


1^0  "Journals  and  Journalism. 

and  he  originated  in  1869  the  Metaphysical  Society,  whose  members  reflected 
the  most  various  phases  of  current  thought.  As  its  name  imphes,  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  is  intended  to  be  in  every  way  of  its  time  ;  it  allows  the 
principal  intellectual  battles  (especially  the  theological  and  anti- theological 
controversy)  to  be  fought  out  in  its  arena  without  fear  or  favour.  Every  one 
of  its  articles,  it  may  be  added,  is  signed  by  a  name  of  some  note. 

Nonconformist  (13,  Fleet  Street;  Weekly,  6d.),  a  paper  that  embodies  the 
best  traditions  of  Liberalism  and  Nonconformity,  is  conscientiously  conducted, 
and  often  has  exceptionally  discriminating  notices  of  books. 

Notes  and  Queries  (20,  Wellington  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  4d.)  contains 
antiquarian,  literary,  scientific  and  artistic  memoranda  and  information,  chiefly 
contributed  by  outside  correspondents. 

Observer  (396,  Strand  ;  Sunday,  4d.),  a  political,  social  and  literary  news- 
paper with  a  history  which  goes  back  as  far  as  179 1,  and  at  no  period  of  which 
was  it  in  a  better  position  than  it  is  now. 

Pall  Mall  Budget  (6d.)  is  a  weekly  collection  of  articles  printed  in  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette,  with  a  summary  of  news. 

Pall  Mall  Gazette  (2,  Northumberland  Street,  Strand;  Every  Evening,  2d.), 
established  in  1865  by  Mr.  George  Smith,  head  of  the  firm  of  Smith,  Elder, 
and  Co.,  as  proprietor,  and  Mr.  Frederick  Greenwood  as  editor.  Several 
thousand  pounds  were  spent,  in  announcing  its  advent  and  otherwise,  at  its 
inception,  and  it  paid  its  contributors  munificently.  In  spite  of  this  expendi- 
ture, and  the  high  standing  the  paper  took  from  the  first,  it  proved  an  un- 
profitable enterprise  for  many  years.  James  Greenwood's  first  "Amateur 
Casual  "  article  (for  which  he  received  loo  guineas)  drew  the  Pall  Mall  into  a 
more  general  popularity ;  but,  notwithstanding,  serious  changes  in  the  paper 
were  deemed  necessary,  the  price  being  lowered  from  twopence  to  a  penny — 
and  without  any  success.  The  next  experiment  was  to  publish,  in  1870,  a 
morning  as  well  as  an  evening  edition  of  the  Pall  Mall,  and  the  experiment 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         i  31 

spelled  ruin.  The  first  form  was  then  recurred  to  and  is  still  retained,  the 
paper  having  become  a  fine  property  in  the  meantime.  The  political  history 
of.the  Pall  Mall  is  well  known,  and  has  lately  been  the  subject  of  great  com- 
ment. Only  a  few  weeks  after  Mr.  Gladstone,  then  in  opposition,  had  con- 
fessed that  the  Pall  Mall  was  his  most  able  arraigner  in  the  press,  the  public 
was  surprised  to  hear  that  the  same  statesman,  having  regained  office,  was  in  a 
position  to  compliment  the  very  same  evening  journal,  "written  by  gentlemen 
for  gentlemen,"  on  being  no  longer  his  keenest  foe,  but  his  kindest  friend. 
The  fact  was  that  Mr.  Smith  had  transferred  the  paper  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
Henry  Yates  Thompson,  to  whom,  a  Liberal,  its  political  independence 
was  not  acceptable.  The  change  of  proprietorship  necessitated  a  change  in  the 
editorial  department  also,  Mr.  Greenwood  resigning  a  post  he  could  no  longer 
conscientiously  retain,  not  without  a  keen  and  natural  regret  in  parting  from  a 
paper  which  he  "  planned,  down  to  the  little  details  of  paper  and  type,"  which 
are  so  dear  to  the  journalistically  paternal  mind.  Mr.  F.  W.  Joynes,  the 
principal  sub-editor  of  the  paper  from  its  foundation  till  1 880,  retired  with  his 
chief,  also  some  members  of  the  staff. 

Pan  (4,  Lugdate  Circus  Buildings,  E.C« ;  Weekly,  6d.),  a  satirical  journal, 
edited  by  Mr.  Alfred  Thompson,  whose  only  enemies  will  be  "unjust,  corrupt, 
and  cruel  men,  pretenders,  upstarts,  snobs,  and  humbugs," 

Pen  (22,  Tavistock  Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C.  ;  Monthly,  6d.)  This 
was  originally  started,  in  the  spring  of  1880,  as  a  weekly  two-penny  literary 
paper,  differing  from  those  already  established  by  giving  an  exclusive 
attention  to  literary  subjects  ;  also  by  the  reproduction  of  drawings  from  the 
illustrated  books  under  review  ;  and  by  the  light  articles  and  paragraphs 
which  popularized  its  pages.  In  their  prospectus,  the  projectors  of  the 
Pen  stated  their  belief  that  "  the  best  and  most  difficult  function  of  the  critic 
is  the  discovery  of  merits  rather  than  of  defects;"  and  promised  "that 
while  we    shall    praise   nothing   that   is  not    good   for   the   sake    of    being 


132  journals  and  'Journalism. 

pleasant,  we  shall  never  be  tempted  into  injustice  for  the  mere  sake 
of  being  smart."  Under  new  management,  the  Pen  now  appears  as  a 
monthly,  not  exclusively  devoted  to  criticism  and  news,  but  with  an  admixture 
of  fiction,  travels,  etc. 

Penny  Illustrated  Paper  (10,  Milford  Lane,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  id.) 

Phonetic  Jourtial  {20,  Paternoster  Row,  E.C.;  Weekly,  id.),  Mr.  Pitman's 
organ  of  the  Phonetic  Society. 

Pictorial  World  (63,  Fleet  Street;  Weekly,  2d.),  an  illustrated  family  and 
general  newspaper. 

Portfolio  (54,  Fleet  Street ;  Monthly,  2s.  6d.),  a  high-class  art  journal,  to  be 
prized   equally   for  its  illustrations  and   its   letterpress.      Edited    by    Philip 

Hamerton,  the  Portfolio  cannot  fail  to  be 
charming ;  and  it  also  presents  to  amateurs 
')>/Tyj'^i'*<*«^i'^'^  a  fair  field  with  no  favour,  as  may  be  seen 

jj^  ■      from   the  announcement:    "The  editor 

desires  to  correct  an  impression  that  he  accepts  contributions  only  from  writers 
of  estabUshed  reputation.  He  will  be  most  willing  to  give  room  to  any  writer 
of  real  ability,  whether  he  happens  to  be  celebrated  or  not."  A  liberal  decree, 
from  which  Mr.  Knowles  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  would  certainly  dissent. 

Public  Opinimi  (li,  Southampton  Street,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  2d.),  one  of  the 
happy  thoughts  of  journalism.  A  collection,  week  by  week,  of  the  differing 
opinions  of  the  home  and  continental  press  upon  the  events  of  the  time ;  is  as 
amusing  as  it  is  valuable.  \Vhen  the  paper  was  in  its  youth,  its  compilers 
combined  tbeir  quotations  with  a  piquant  effect  of  antithesis  and  mutual  con- 
tradiction, which  seems  now  to  be  less  considered.  Original  book-reviews 
and  a  column  of  correspondence,  kept  up  with  considerable  briskness,  are 
mingled  with  the  quoted  matter,  which  is  excellently  selected  and  arranged. 

Punch  (85,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  3d.)  has  played  since  1841  a  considerable 
part  in  the  political  and  social  life  of  England.  Its  literar>'  history  is  well 
known.     Editorially  associated  during  recent  years  with  the  grave  name  of 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         133 

Tom  Taylor,    its   columns   have   been 

lightened  by  the  incomparable  writings     ^-  m,*-"*** 

of  Mr.  F.  C.  Burnand  ;  while  the  draw-    y(^  ^J^e.^C-C^^it'^tC^     - 

ings  of  Mr.  du    Maurier  have  further 

helped  its  pages  to  retain  their  hold  on  the  pubUc  affection.  Pwich  is  no  believer 
in  the  old  maxim  that  the  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  for  it  every  week 
declares  that  the  editor  does  not  undertake  to  pay  for  any  outside  contributions 
,  he  may  accept— an  announcement  which,  in  the  interests  of  the  amateur, 
and  for  the  credit  of  the  profession,  we  own  that  we  shall  be  glad  to  see 
withdrawn. 

Quarterly  Review  (50,  Albemarle  Street,  W.  ;  6s.)  has  a  history  too  well 
known  to  need  recapitulation  here.  The  present  occupant  of  the  editorial 
chair,  in  which  Gifford  and  Lockhart  formerly  sat,  is  Dr.  WiUiam  Smith,  of 
Classical  Dictionary  fame,  and  otherwise  a  man  of  high  literary  distinction. 

Queen  (see  Ladies'  Publications). 

Quiver  (Ludgate  Hill,  E.G.  ;  Monthly,  6d.),  a  magazine  of  Sunday  reading; 
as  popular  and  successful  as  everything  of  Messrs.  Gassell,  Fetter,  Galpin,  and 
Co.'s  appears  to  be. 

Religious  Publications  :— I.  Christian  Age  (107,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.) 
2.  Christian  Globe  [2<),  Farringdon  Street,  E.G.  ;  Weekly,  id.)  3.  Christian 
Herald  (2,  Ivy  Lane,  E.G.  ;  Weekly,  id.)  4.  Christian  Union  (8,  Salisbury 
Square,  Fleet  Street;  Weekly,  id.)  5.  Christian  World  (13,  Fleet  Street; 
Weekly,  id.) 

Reynolds'  Weekly  Newspaper  (313,  Strand;  Weekly,  id.)  advocates 
Republican  principles. 

St.  James's  Gazette  (Dorset  Street,  Fleet  Street ;  Evening,  2d.),  the  paper 
founded  by  Mr.  Frederick  Greenwood  after  his  secession  from  the  Fall  Mall 
Gazette.  The  new  organ,  which  resembles  the  Pall  Mall  in  outward 
appearance,  and  in  its  style  differs  from  it  only  by  being  a  little  more  jaunty, 
made  its  debut  on  May  31st,  1880.     Backed  by  a  large  amount  of  capital,  read 


I  34  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

by  independent  politicians  and  by  Conservatives,  written  and  edited  with 
character  and  talent,  the  St.  Jameses  Gazette  has  been  born  with  a  silver  spoon 
in  its  mouth,  and  can  hardly  miss  a  prosperous  career. 

St.  James's  Magazine  and  United  Empire  Review  [%  Friar  Street,  Broadway, 
E.G.  ;  Monthly,  is.)   novels,  essays,  political  and  biographical  articles. 

Saturday  Revie^v  (38,  Southampton  Street,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  estab- 
lished in  1855  ;  connected  in  its  proprietary  with  the  name  of  Mr.  Beresford- 
Hope,  M.P.,  and  edited  for  some  time  by  the  late  Mr.  Cook.  In  many 
respects  a  unique  paper ;  its  very  name  has  acquired  a  flavour  of  its  own  upon 
the  tongue— a  taste  of  bitter  herbs,  astringent  and  not  ungrateful.  Yet  the 
Saturday  Review  is  at  least  as  remarkable  for  its  liberal  recognition  of  merits 
as  for  its  scorn  of  faults.  It  knows,  indeed,  how  to  use  ridicule  ;  and  if  that 
weapon  is  a  legitimate,  nay,  valuable  one,  it  is  well  that  it  should  be  employed 
intelligently.  The  tone  of  the  paper  is  strongly  pronounced  for  morality  and 
for  reverence  towards  the  things  which  are  generally  accepted  as  sacred.  It 
has  never  occupied  the  now  common  neutral  ground  of  absolute  indifference  to 
all  save  "  art  "  and  "  honour  "  ;  it  is  scholarly,  making,  perhaps,  a  specialty 
of  historical  and  classical  knowledge.  The  political  articles  lead  off,  followed 
by  papers  of  social  and  other  current  subjects  of  interest  in  smaller  type,  these 
being  succeeded  by  book  reviews,  in  the  course  of  which  one  author  is  gene- 
rally crushed  in  each  number.  Periodical  notices  of  German,  American,  and 
other  foreign  publications  are  a  marked  feature  of  the  Saturday  Review. 
There  is  no  political  or  other  trimming  in  its  columns.  It  has  lately  stung 
Mr.  Gladstone  into  a  hot  retort ;  but  Lord  Beaconsfield,  in  past  years,  felt 
the  same  lash,  wielded,  in  his  case,  by  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  who  then 
increased  by  his  pen  the  income  of  a  younger  son. 

Service  Publications : — I.  Army  and  Navy  Gazette  (16,  Wellington  Street, 
W.C.  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  edited  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Russell,  the  famous  correspon- 
dent of  The  Times  and  the    Telegraph.     2.  Broad  Arrow  (2,  Waterloo  Place, 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press,         135 

S.W. ;  Weekly,  6d.)  3.  Civil  Service 
Gazette  (6,  Salisbury  Street,  Strand ; 
Weekly,  3d.)  4.  Colbtcrn's  United  Ser- 
vice Magazine  (13,  Great  Marlborough 
Street  ;  Monthly,  3s.  6d.)  5.  Naval  Chronicle  (18,  Adam  Street,  Strand  ; 
Monthly,  6d.)  6.  Naval  and  Military  Gazette  (4,  Spring  Gardens,  Charing 
Cross  ;  Weekly,  3d.)  7.  United  Service  Gazette  (7,  Wellington  Street,  W.C. ; 
Weekly,  6d.)     8.    Volunteer  Service  Gazette  (121,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  4d.) 

Social  Notes  (16,  Southampton  Street,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  id.)  Articles  on 
social  reforms,  requirements,  and  progress  ;  founded  by  the  Marquis  Towns- 
hend,  with  Mr.  S.  C.  Hall  for  first  editor,  his  sorrowful  experiences  in  that 
capacity  being  chronicled  in  our  law-court  reports. 

Society  (84,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.),   ^^ 
a  gossipy,  bright   little   paper,    in  some   C^^^j^;^Lr^^^<>*_*7^         ^y 
ways    the    most   wonderful    pennyworth     ^  ^ff"^^^^^  L^^l/t^ 

among  the  weeklies.  —  ' 

Spectator  (i,  Wellington  Street,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  6d.)  has  celebrated  its 
golden  jubilee,  but  shows  no  sign  of  the  decrepitude  of  age.  Mr.  R.  H. 
Hutton  here  mounts  his  pulpit  every  Saturday,  with  utterances  of  entire 
honesty,    which  give    to    his   paper   a 

singular  interest  and  charm.     Indepen-    ^^  /l/f/    ^y    ^y^- 

dent,  outspoken,  and  powerful  in  its  ^>'i^m/-v//^/'^^--'^?^*^'t''-t — 
political   articles,    the   Spectator    in  its 

literary  notices  is  discriminating,  candid,  and  fair ;  and  all  its  utterances  on 
religion  are  marked  by  a  freedom  from  bias  rare  indeed  in  any  newspaper,  and 
characteristic,  like  the  other  features  of  the  journal,  of  Mr.  Hutton's  own  mind. 

Spiritualist  Publications  : — I.  Medium  and  Daybreak  (15,  Southampton 
Row,  Holborn;  Weekly,  ijd.)  2.  Spiritualist  (11,  Ave  Maria  Lane,  E.G.  ; 
Weekly,  2d.) 


^3^  'Journals  and  Journalism. 

.S^aw^ar^  (104,  Shoe  Lane,  E.G.;  Morning  and  Evening,  id.)  was  originally 
an  evening  paper  only,  and  was  specially  designed  to  oppose  the  application  of 
the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  to  the  case  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
then  in  England.  Dr.  Giffard,  an  ultra-Protestant,  was  its  first  editor. 
Appearing  in  1S27,  it  was  soon  afterwards  referred  to  hy  \!n.&  Morning  Chronicle 
as  "a  journal  which  has  crawled  into  existence,  and  is  fast  hastening  towards 
dissolution."  The  Morning  Chronicle  itself  fulfilled  the  amiable  prediction  it 
had  ventured  in  regard  to  a  contemporary  which,  after  some  early  struggles, 
soon  attained  stability.  When  the  Maynooth  Grant  was  placed  on  the  Con- 
solidated Fund,  the  Standard,  according  to  Mr.  James  Grant,  modified  its 
hostility  to  the  Catholic  religion  at  the  instance  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  took 
the  precaution  of  influencing  Dr.  Giffard  in  favour  of  the  measure  before  he 
introduced  it  in  the  House ;  and  by  its  desertion  of  the  ultra-Protestant  cause 
on  this  occasion  it  offended  many  of  those  who  had  previously  given  it  a 
warm  support.  The  Standard  long  ago  gave  evidence  of  that  honourable  mode 
of  conducting  political  controversy  for  which  it  has  lately  been  much  com- 
mended, refusing,  as  it  did,  to  make  common  cause  with  its  Tory  contemporaries 
against  the  Liberal  administration  in  connection  with  the  case  of  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Norton  and  Lord  Melbourne,  who  was  then  Premier.  The  Statidard,  after 
it  was  an  established  success,  passed  from  the  hands  of  Mr.  Edward  Baldwin 
(son  of  its  first  proprietor)  into  those  of  Mr.  Johnstone,  who  reduced  the  price 
from  4d.  to  2d.,  and  made  it  a  morning  as  well  as  an  evening  paper.  This  was 
in  1857  ;  and  in  1858  its  price  was  further  lowered  to  id.,  though  its  size  was 
increased.  The  Standard  is  one  of  the  largest  of  the  penny  papers,  and,  perhaps 
on  this  account,  carries  off  the  palm  as  to  the  variety  and  completeness  of  its 
news.  The  Evening  Standard  is  published  under  the  same  auspices  and  at 
the  same  place  as  the  morning  issue,  which  it  resembles  in  general  excellence. 

Statist  (16,  York  St.,  W.C.  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  financial  and  commercial  statis- 
tics and  articles. 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         137 

Stmday  at  Home  (ijo,  Paternoster  Row;  Weekly,  id.),  family  reading, 
carefully  selected,  and  well  illustrated. 

Sunday  Magazine  (56,  Ludgate  Hill ;  Monthly,  6d.),  stories,  essays,  verses, 
for  Sunday  and  general  reading. 

Sunday  Times  (8,  New  Bridge  St.,  E.G.  ;  2d,)     A  capital  paper. 

Temple  Bar  Magazine  (8,  New  Burlington  Street,  W.  ;  Monthly,  is.), 
established  in  i860  close  upon  the  great  success  of  the  Cornhill,  and  laid  upon 
much  the  same  lines,  save  that  it  eschewed  illustrations,  and  made^  a  specialty 
of  a  light  and  journaKstic  style  of  essay,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  the  peculiar 
talents  of  its  first  editor,  Mr.  Sala.  Its  novels,  too,  were  distinctively  of  the 
smart  order,  and  this  tradition  it  has  preserved  until  now,  by  publishing  some 
of  the  briskest  stories  by  the  lady  novelists  most  in  vogue.  A  thoroughly 
readable  magazine,  and  its  past  numbers  contain,  among  more  ephemeral 
matter,  some  memorable  articles  and  poems. 

Theatrical  Publications: — i.  Era  (49,  Wellington  Street,  W.C.  ;  Weekly, 
5d.),  founded  in  1837;  owned  and  ably  conducted  by  Mr.  Edward  Ledger. 
2.  Theatre  (26,  Wellington  Street,  W.C.  ;  Monthly,  is.),  edited  by  Clement 
Scott,  the  dramatic  critic  of  the  Daily  Telegraph. 

Times  (Printing  House  Square,  E.C.  ;  Daily,  3d.)  "Madam,  have  you 
seen  Mr.  Cambridge's  excellent  verses  called  *  The  Progress  of  Liberty  ? ' 
They  appeared  in  a  paper  called  The  Times  " — so  wrote  Horace  Walpole  to 
the  Countess  of  Ossory  on  the  1 2th  of  December,  1789.  From  "a  paper 
called  TJie  Times'"  to  "the  Leading 
Organ  "  is  a  long  jump,  and  the  story 
of  it  will,  no  doubt,  be  one  day  worthily 
written.  Here  is  only  space  for  little 
more  than  a  few  names  and  dates.  First  published  in  1785,  under  the 
title  of  the  Daily  Universal  Register,  by  Mr.  John  Walter,  the  namesake  and 
grandfather  of  the  present  principal  proprietor,   at  Printing  House  Square. 


^3^  yournals  and  'Journalism. 

He  was  an  ingenious  man,  a  master  of  the  technique  of  printing,  trying  many 
doubtful  experiments,  and  patenting  various  manifest  improvements  connected 
with  his  craft.  On  the  first  day  of  the  year  1788,  the  pappr  appeared  as  The 
Times — the  older  and  cumbrous  title  having  proved  as  injurious  to  it  as  did 
Tristram  to  Mr,  Shandy's  son.  To  be  "  fashionable,  humorous,  and  witty  " 
entered  into  the  design  of  Mr.  Walter's  organ  in  those  early  years,  and  it  con- 
tained lively  paragraphs  such  as  now  appear  in  the  "society"  papers.  No 
leading  articles  were  published  then ;  and  the  number  of  advertisements  in 
the  first  issue  of  The  Times  was  only ''57.  Mr.  Walter  made  the  paper  pros- 
perous, and  then  transferred  it  in  1803  to  his  son,  also  a  man  of  business 
knowledge  and  capacity.  In  18 10  The  Times  was  certainly  not  open  to  that 
charge  of  trimming  which  has  been  advanced  against  it  of  late,  with  some- 
thing of  exaggeration  ;  for  its  course  was  just  then  so  unpleasant  to  the  ruling 
politicians  that  the  Government  advertisements  were  withdrawn  from  its 
columns  ;  and  so  petty  became  the  persecution,  that  the  editor's  packages  from 
abroad  were  stopped  by  Government  at  the  outposts,  while  those  for  the 
Ministerial  journals  were  allowed  to  pass.  After  successive  enlargements, 
both  in  size  and  in  circulation.  The  Times  became  difficult  to  produce  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  by  the  hand  printing-presses,  and  Mr.  Walter,  after  expending 
much  money  and  attention  on  attempts  to  meet  the  difficulty,  at  last  produced, 
in  1844,  a  copy  of  the  paper  printed  by  steam  and  machinery — to  the  intense 
disgust  of  the  pressmen  in  Printing  House  Square.  The  Times  is  now 
said  to  be  produced,  on  the  Walter  printing-press,  at  the  rate  of  more  than 
20,000  copies  an  hour,  by  a  system  over  which  something  like  ;^5o,ooo  has 
been  spent  in  bringing  it  to  its  present  perfection.  The  Times  has  often  acted 
with  great  public  spirit,  as  when  it  did  much  to  cure  the  first  fever  of  railway 
speculation — at  the  loss  of  many  thousands  of  pounds  to  its  own  coffers, 
through  the  retaliative  withdrawal  of  these  speculative  advertisements  from 
its  columns.      Thus  has  it  earned  its  title  of  the  Monarch  of  the  Press.     Its 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         1 39 

contributors  (who  are  more  handsomely  paid  than  those  of  any  other  daily 
paper)  include  many  eminent  men  in  various  walks  of  life ;  and  its  editor 
enjoys  a  prestige  of  his  own  among  journalists  and  in  general  society.  Of 
Mr.  Delane,  the  late  brilliant  editor,  we  have  spoken  in  earlier  pages.  His 
cessation  of  labour  was  followed  by  another  severe  loss  to  The  Times — the 
retirement  of  its  sub-editor,  Mr.  Stebbing.  The 
present  occupant  of  the  editorial  throne  is  Mr. 
Thomas  Chenery,  formerly  known  to  fame  only  as 
a  distinguished  Oriental  scholar.  ^  ( - 

Tt>?ie  (i,  York  Street,  Covent  Garden;  Monthly,  is.),  a  magazine  of 
general  literature,  brightly  edited  by  Mr.  Bdmund  Yates. 

Ti??tes  Weekly  Edition  (2d.)  has  been  published  since  1877,  containing 
prominent  contents  of  one  week's  daily  issues. 

Tinsley's  Magazine  (8,  Catherine  Street,  Strand  ;  Monthly,  is.)  contains 
essays  and  reviews,  but  is  chiefly  known  for  its  fiction — largely  contributed  of 
late  by  Mr.  Richard  Dowling,  the  young  novelist  whose  "  Mystery  of  Killard  " 
and  "  Weird  Sisters  "  have  scored  a  signal  success. 

Truth  l(l(i.  Queen  Street,  E.G. ;  Weekly,  6d.),  started  in  1877  by  Mr. 
Labouchere.  It  has  much  in  common  with  the  World,  devoting  a  large  space 
to  the  political,  personal,  and  cynical  paragraphs  of  which  everybody  more  or 
less  protests  that  he  disapproves,  while  everybody  reads  them.  Truth  is  less 
literary  than  the  World,  caring  less  for  classical  finish  or  technical  excellence 
than  for  spiciness  and  dash.  The  paper  largely  reflects  the  personality  of  the 
editor,  who  has  an  efficient  lieutenant  in  Mr.  Horace  Voules. 

Unitarian  Publications: — i.  Christian  Life  (123,  Fleet  Street;  Weekly,  2d.) 
2.  Inquirer  (37,  Norfolk  Street,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  5d.) 

University  Magazine  (13,  Great  Marlborough  Street;  Monthly,  2s.  6d.), 
critical  essays  and  reviews.     Formerly  the  Dublin  University  Magazine. 

Vanity  Fair  (12,  Tavistock  Street,  W.C.  ;    Weekly,    is,),   the   first   and 


140  'Journals  and  yournalism, 

chief  of  the  existing  "  society  papers,"  having  been  founded  in  1868.  Its 
high  price  separates  it  somewhat  from  the  ruck  of  its  kind,  and  it  is  also 
distinguished  by  its  caricature  portraits— unequal,  but  in  some  instances  exces- 
sively clever.  Tales,  articles— political,  social,  and  critical— and  the  ubi- 
quitous paragraph  form  the  chief  part  of  its  contents. 

Victoria  Magazine  (85,  Praed   Street, 
W.  ;  Monthly,   is.),   conducted   by  Miss 
Emily  Faithfull,  to  forward  the  general 
interests  of  women. 
Walter  Pelkam's  Illustrated  Journal  (Fetter  Lane,  E.G.;  Weekly,   id.), 
"a  miscellany  of  romance,  wit,  and  wisdom," 

Weekly  Budget  (Red  Lion  Court,  Fleet  Street ;  Weekly,  id.) 
Weekly  Dispatch   (20,  Wine   Office   Court,   Fleet   Street  ;   Sunday,    id.), 
a  strongly  conducted  journal  for  the  industrial  classes,  owned  and  edited  by 
Mr.  Ashton  W.  Dilke,  M.P. 

Weekly  Eeviexv  (5,  Drury  Court,  Strand  ;  Weekly,  4d.) 
Weekly  Ti?nes  (332,  Strand  ;  Sunday,  id.) 
Week^s  News  (91,  Gracechurch  Street,  E.G. ;  Weekly,  2d.) 
Westminster  /^eviezu  {^y,hudgate  Hill ;  Quarterly,  6s.)     General  essays  and 
reviews  written  from  the  political  and  religious  standpoint  of  the  late  John 
Stuart  Mill,  its   distinguished  editor.      The    Westminster  has  excellent  and 
candid  book  reviews. 

Whitehall  Review  (6,  York  Street,  Govent  Garden ;  Weekly,  6d.),  a  "  per- 
sonal "  journal  with  a  special  feature  in  the  publication  of  portraits,  principally 
of  ladies  well  known  in  the  London  world.  For  the  rest,  the  ^/4//^/^a// contains 
the  articles,  correspondence,  essays,  and,  above  all,  the  paragraphs  which  are 
also  characteristic  of  its  competitors.  It  describes  itself  as  the  "journal  of  good 
society, "  and  devotes  much  space  to  chit-chat  on  the  sayings  and  doings  of 
persons  of  fashion.     The  Whitehall  has  an  enterprising  proprietor  and  editor 


Dictionary  of  the  Periodical  Press.         141 

in   Mr.   Edward    Legge,    a    barrister-at-law,   formerly  connected   with    the 
Morning  Post. 

World  (i,  York  Street^  Covent  Garden  ;  Weekly,  6d.),  originated  in  1874 
by  Mr.  Edmund  Yates,  with  the  collaboration  of  Mr.  Labouchere  and  Mr. 
Grenville  Murray,  but  now  the  sole  property  of  Mr.  Yates.  Its  own  frank 
description  of  itself  as  a  "journal  for  men  and  women  "  is  the  best  to  label  it 
with.  While  amusing  the  men  and  women  of  town  with  scraps  of  news 
about  themselves  and  each  other,  told  in  the  lightly  cynical  tone  which  they 
themselves  are  in  the  habit  of  using,  it  interests 
the  men  and  women  of  a  larger  world  with 
its  fresh,  crisp,  and  capable  political  sketches, 
portraits  of  "Celebrities  at  Home, "criticism 
— the  musical  department  being  in  particularly  good  hands — and  short  general 
essays.  Personal  it  undoubtedly  is,  but  there  is  no  denying  the  fact  that 
modern  society  has  so  far  moderated  its  prejudices  that  personal  journalism 
is  often  anything  but  unacceptable  to  its  subjects,  while  to  its  readers  it 
appears  to  be  eminently  acceptable.  The  IVor/d,  besides,  has  always 
preserved  a  certain  masculine  tone ;  it  disclaims  the  title  of  "  society 
paper,"  and  has  never  condescended  to  Thackeray's  favourite  abomination — 
snobbery. 


"•^  "&"•■*/   "J —  — ■> 

rests  ^  .  ^ 

:hes,  ^^^^-^..^^iL.^  Afy^ 

;ism  c/ 


A    ^^wn. 


23      ^ 


Jocuie/fvintiu 


^l 


HOW  TO  CORRECT  PROOFS. 

CORSECTED   FOR.  PRESS. 

I'Madrag.  to  which  Give  had  been 
appoint)/d^  was,  at  this  time,  penjaps, 
the  first  in.  importance  of  thdCom* 
pany^settlements^ 

^^Inthe  preceding-  century^  Fort 
Saint  ^Qeorge  had  arisen  on  a 
^spot/B^en  beatea  by  a  raging 
surF^and  in  the  jieighbotrrhood.  a 
towDj  inhabited  y(^-«»e5^  thousands 
of  natives^  had  sprung  tJp,  as  -they- 
spr^'ng  up  in  the  JEast,  with  £he 
rapidity  of  the  prophet's  gourd. 
**  Thgre  were  already  in  the  suC^j-bs 
many  white  villas^each  surrounded 
by  its  garden^  whither  the  agents  of 
theybrnpany  retired,  after  the  labours 
of  the  desW  to  enjoy  the  cool  breeze 
which  springs  up  at  sunse^rom  the 
Bay  of/Bengal/  The  habits  of  these 
meip^tile  grandees  appear  to  have 
n  more  profuse,  luxuries,  and 
ofistentatious  than  those  of  the  high 
judicial  and  political  functioanries 
who  have  succeeded  them/ /Zor^ 
C^tve,  hy  Lord  Macaulay. 


j5  ^.  C<iMl 


^6     ^/ 


-/ 


as    (> 

30     /-/ 


HOW  TO  CORRECT  PROOFS. 

READY    FOR   PRESS. 

"MADRAS,  to  which  Clive  had 
been  appointed,  was,  at  this  time, 
perhaps,  the  first  in  importance  of 
the  Company's  settlements.  In  the 
preceding  century,  Fort  Sf.  George 
had  arisen  on  a  barren  spot  beaten 
by  a  raging  surf;  and  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood a  town,  inhabited  by  many 
thousands  of  natives,  had  sprung  up, 
as  towns  spring  up  in  the  East,  with 
the  rapidity  of  the  prophet's  gourd. 

"  There  were  already  in  the  suburbs 
many  white  villas  (each  surrounded 
by  its  garden),  whither  the  agents  of 
the  Company  retired,  after  the  labours 
of  the  desk  and  the  warehouse,  to 
enjoy  the  cool  breeze  which  springs 
up  at  sunset  from  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 
The  habits  of  these  mercantile 
grandees  appear  to  have  been  more 
profuse,  luxurious,  and  ostentatious 
than  those  of  the  high  judicial  and 
political  functionaries  who  have 
succeeded  them."  —  Lord  Clive,  by 
Lord  Macaulav. 


rlj 


HOW  TO  CORRECT  PROOFS. 

EXPLANATION, 


1.  Marks  for  turned  commas,  to  designate 
extracts. 

2.  To  change  a  word  from  small  letters 
to  capitals,  mark  three  lines  under  it,  and 
write  caps,  in  the  margin  opposite. 

3.  Where  there  is  a  wrong  letter,  draw 
the  pen  through  that  letter,  and  mark  the 
right  one  in  the  margin  opposite,  with  a 
down  line  following  it. 

4.  When  a  paragraph  commences  where 
it  is  not  intended,  connect  the  matter  by  a 
line,  and  write  in  the  margin  opposite,  no 
break  or  run  on. 

5.  Where  a  word  has  to  be  changed  to 
italic,  make  a  line  under  the  word,  and 
write  italic  in  the  margin. 

6.  Words  to  be  transposed. 

7.  A  semi-colon  omitted. 

8.  Omission  of  a  word  is  noticed  by  a 
caret,  A  ^nd  marking  in  the  margin. 

9.  To  draw  the  letters  of  a  word  close 
together  which  stand  apart. 

10.  The  marks  for  a  paragraph,  when  its 
commencement  has  been  omitted. 

11.  Substitution  of  a  capital  for  a  small 
letter. 

12.  The  substitution  of  a  full  point  for  a 
comma  or  other  point. 

13.  Superfluous  letters  or  words  should 
be  noticed  by  a  line  drawn  through  them, 
and  this  mark  written  in  the  margin  (dele, 
take  out). 

14.  The  marks  for  closing  an  extract. 

15.  To  change  a  word  from  small  letters 
to  small  capitals,  make  two  lines  under  the 
word,  and  write  sm.  caps,  in  the  margin. 

16.  A  letter  turned  upside  down. 

17.  The  mark  for  a  space  where  it  has 
been  omitted  between  two  words. 

18.  A  comma  omitted. 


19.  When  a  letter  of  a  different  size  to 
that  used,  or  of  a  different  face,  appears 
in  a  word,  draw  a  line  either  through  it  or 
under  it,  and  write  opposite  w./.  (wrong 
fount). 

20.  When  one  or  more  words  have  been 
struck  out,  and  it  is  subsequently  decided 
that  they  shall  remain,  make  dots  under 
them  and  write  itei  (stand)  in  the  margin. 

21.  The  substitution  of  one  word  for 
another. 

22.  Where  a  word  has  to  be  changed 
from  Italic  to  Roman,  make  a  line  under  it 
and  write  ronian  on  the  margin  opposite. 

23.  The  substitution  of  a  small  for  a 
capital  letter. 

24.  Marks  when  lines  and  words  do  not 
appear  straight. 

25.  The  marks  for  parentheses. 

26.  A  battered,  broken,  or  misshapen 
letter  may  also  be  noticed  by  a  line  drawn 
under  or  through  it,  and  a  +  written  in 
the  margin. 

27.  Where  a  space  stands  up  and  appears, 
draw  a  line  through  it,  and  make  a  strong 
perpendicular  mark  in  the  margin. 

38.  A  letter  omitted. 

29.  The  transposition  of  letters  in  a 
word. 

30-  The  dash  omitted.  The  hyphen 
omitted  is  marked  by  a  shorter  line  with 
only  one  vertical  mark. 

31 .  The  manner  of  marking  an  omission, 
or  an  insertion,  when  it  is  too  long  to  be 
written  in  the  side  margin.  When  this 
occurs,  it  may  be  written  either  at  the  top 
or  bottom  of  the  page. 

Care  should  always  be  taken  that  the 
errata  are  written  in  the  order  in  which 
they  occur. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

'AGE 

Academy    

107 

Austin,  Alfred 

63 

Adams,  Mr.  Leith    ... 

125 

After  Work       

107 

Baptist       ...    ■ 

IIO 

Agnew,  William 



63 

Bazaar 

III 

Agricultural  papers  ... 

117 

Beaconsfield,  Lord  ... 

74, 

123, 

134 

Alford,  Dean     

116 

Belgravia ^ 

22 

,58, 

III 

All  the  Ycm-  Round ... 

107 

Bennett      

26 

Amateur  Magazine  ... 

II 

Biograph    

III 

Amateurs,       their       dil 

ettante 

Black,  William 

124 

habits,    9 ;    their    styl 

e,    II  ; 

Blackwood's  Magazine 

III 

advice  to,  20  ;  the  dest 

roying 

Borthwick,  Sir  Algernon 

64, 

129 

stage,  22  ;  must  be  per 

sistent 

24 

Bow  Bells 

iir 

American  Traveller... 

108 

Bowles,  T.  G 

64 

Anglo-American  Times 

108 

Brief 

III 

Animal  World 

108 

British  Architect 

109 

Anonymity        

72 

British  Mail     

.« 

108 

Antiquary         



109 

British  Quarterly 

112 

Architect ...      . 

109 

Brougham,  Lord,  a  rejected  con- 

Argosy         

.. 

109 

tributor,    33 ;  jealous   of 

his 

Army  papers     

135 

colleagues  on  the  Edinbui 

■gh. 

Arnold,  Arthur 

'.'.     62, 

120 

121  ;     contributed 

to 

the 

Arnold,  Edwin 

•      43, 

120 

Morning  Advertiser 

12S 

Arnold,  Matthew 

117 

Browning,  Mrs. 

21, 

117 

Artist 

..> 

109 

Browning,  Robert    ... 

43 

Art  Journal      

109 

Buckland,  Frank 

117 

Art,  Magazine  of    ... 

109 

Building  journals 

109 

AthcncEum         



IIO 

Burnand,  F.  C. 

133 

Atlantic  Monthly     ...     . 

108 

Byron         

42 

146 


Index. 


Carlyle  edited  out  ofn^cognition, 
32 ;  his  French  Revolution 
declined  by  a  publisher,  33  ; 

American  payments      99 

CasseWs  Magazine    112 

Catholic  publications       112 

Chambers' s  y ozirnal 114 

Charing  Cross  Magazine 114 

Chatto  and  Windus Ill 

Chenery,  T 137,  I39 

"  Christian  "  publications        ...  133 

Church  of  England  publications,  1 14 

115,  116 

Colbiirn's  New  Monthly 116 

Coleridge,    editor   of    Morning 

Post        129 

Coleridge,  Father     113 

Collins,  Wilkie         56 

Commandments,   Ten  Literary  loi 

Contei>if>o7-a7y  Review      ...      41,  116 

Copyright          97 

Cornhill  Maga  zine 116 

Court  Circular         118 

Court  yournal          1 1 8 

Courtney,  Leonard 62 

Cowen,  Joseph 62 

Cox,  Serjeant    iii,  126 

Daily  Chronicle        Il8 

Daily  News        118 

Daily  papers,  salaries  on         ...  44 

Daily  Telegraph       94,  "9 

Davey,  R 126 

Day  of  Rest       120 

Declined        with       thanks," 


32, 

33 

•  ••     70,     77. 

85 



43 

on  his  con- 

his    emotion 

bitterness  of  the  phrase ,  27  ; 
how  to  take  it,  28 ;  great 
authors  to  whom  it  has  been 
addressed 

Delane,  M.  T. 

De  Vere,  Aubrey 

Dickens,  Charles, 
tributions,  15  ; 
on  iirst  appearing  in  print,  22  ; 
as  a  reporter,  25  ;  on  diffi- 
culties of  learning  short-hand, 
57 ;  denounces  impertinent 
journalism,  95  ;  as  editor  of 
Daily  News ^     

Dilke,  Ashtcn 62, 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles    ...  62,     no, 

Dixon,  Hepworth,  first  contri- 
buted to  local  papers  when  a 
merchant's  clerk,  23  ;  his  diffi- 
culty in  finding  a  publisher, 
33  ;  editor  of  Athenaum 

Dowling,  R 

Dublin  Review         

Duplication  of  literary  work 


119 
140 
118 


109 

132 

III 

51 


Earnings  of  a  young  journalist 
during  his  first  year's  labour        49 

Ecclesiastical  Gazette       114 

Echo 120 

Economist         121 

Edinburgh  Review  ...     32,     47,   121 

Editorial  "we"     82,     84 

Editors,  introductions  to  13 ; 
thorns  in  their  cushions,  15  ; 
who  are  also  proprietors,  47  ; 


Index^ 


H7 


their  labours  and  responsibili- 
ties, 73,  86  ;  who  never  write, 
86 ;     great    men    who    have 

failed  as         86 

Educational  publications        ...  122 

Edwards,  Passmore 62,  121 

Eliot,  George,  rejected.  33  ;  her 

remuneration 40 

"  Englishwoman's  "  papers    ...  125 

Era     137 

Examiner         122 

Faithfall,  Miss 140 

Family  Herald           1 22 

Family  J\ cad er 122 

Farming  publications       117 

Fathers,  in  relation  to  their  as- 
piring sons 26,  38 

Field 117 

Finigan,  Lysaght      63 

First  appearance  in  print        ...  89 

Floral  publications    117 

Fonblanque,  Albany,  at  work  29 

Forbes,  Archibald    119 

Foreign  Times 108 

Forster,  John    118,  119 

Fortttightly  Review         122 

Franklin     26 

Frase7''s  Magazine    122 

Freeman    no 

Freemason 122 

Fi-eemason's  Chronicle     122 

Friendly  Leaves        1 15 

Fun    123 

Funny  Folks     123 


Gardening  publications    

Gaskell,    Mrs 

Geneclogist         

Gentleman'' s  Magazine     

Gladstone 131, 

Globe 

Gcod  Words       

Good  work  not  always  market- 
able         

Go  wing,  Richard     

Grant,  James    

Graphic      

Gratuitous  contributions 

Gray,  E.  D 

Gi-eeley,  Horace       

Greenwood,  Frederick    ...  130, 

Greenwood,  James 

Giove,  George 

Guardian 


Hrdl  S.  C 109, 

Ilamerton,  P.  G 

Hand  and  Heart        

Harper'' s  Magazine 

Harte,  Eret        

Hatton,  Joseph         

Hawthorn,  Nathaniel,  his  early 
work  "  declined  with 
thanks  " ... 

Health  papers 

Hill,  Frank  H 

Hoey,  Mrs.  Cashel 

Hogg,  James    

Home  Ne-ws       

Homceopathic  papers       


PAGE 

117 
117 
123 
123 

134 

I2i 
123 

33 
122 
128 
124 

10 

63 
26 

133 
130 
127 

IIS 

135 
132 
124 
108 
26 
51 


30 

128 

119 

17 
127 
108 
128 


148 


Index, 


PAGE 

Hope,  Beresford^      63 

Horticultural  publications       ...  117 

Jlouse  and  Home       124 

How  to  correct  proofs      142 

Huish,  Marcus 109 

Hutton,  R.  H 135 

Illustrated  London  News 125 

Japp,  A.  H 123 

Jenkins,  Edward      62 

Jerrold,  Blanchard 127 

Jerrold,  Douglas       26,     127 

Jewish  publications 1 25 

John  Bull 115 

Journalism,  affords  a  beginning 
for  the  literary  aspirant,  4  ; 
how  to  begin,  19  ;  dislike  of 
the  mental  and  manual  labour 
not  fatal  to  success,  19  ;  dis- 
tinction between  literature 
and,  39,  43  ;  as  a  career — the 
fair  side,   53,  65  ;  the  seamy 

side 66, 

Journalists  in  poverty      

Joynes,  F.  W 

Ji^dy  _ ...     

Juvenile  publications       


Kensington        

Knowles,  James 

Labouchere,  Ily. 

Ladies'  publications 
Lamb,  Charles 


...  116, 


72 

45 

131 

125 

125 

125 
129 


62,   116,   139, 
141 

125 

129 


Lancet        

Land  and  Water      

Lawson,  E.  L 

Ledger,  Edward       

Legal  publications    

Legge,  Edward        ..       ..., 

Leisure  Hotir 

Lewes,  George  Henry,  at  work 
29  ;  rejected  

Lewis,  George 

Life    

Linton,  Mrs.  Lynn 

Lippincotfs  Magazine     ... 

Literary  career,  advantages  of, 
58 ;  noble  prerogatives'  of, 
60  ;  a  stepping-stone  to  other 
distinctions,  61,  64  ;  train- 
ing for 

Literary  Church77ian        

Literary  clerks  in  Government 
offices     

Literary  World        

Lloyds  Weekly         

Locker,  Arthur         

Lockhart    

Lockyer,  Norman    

London  correspondents  for 
country  papers      

London  Figaro         

London  journal      

London  dreader 

Lon  don  Society 

Lucy,  W.  H 51, 

Macaulay,  could  not  find  a 
market  for  all  he  wrote,  22  j  at 


PACK 

128 
117 
120 
137 
125 

126 

33 
100 

126 

16 

108 


66 
116 

67 
126 
126 
124 

"3 
129 

SI 
127 
127 
127 
127 
119 


Index. 


149 


work,  29  ;  reviewed  without 
reading,      I2I  ;      Brougham 

jealous  of     121 

McCarthy,  Justin     ...        25,  63,  69 

McLeod,  Dr 124 

Magazines,    money  to  be  made 

by  writing  in          41 

Mallock,  W.  H 42 

Manufacturing  and  mechanical 

papers     127 

Marketable  work      33 

Marryat,  Florence    127 

Martineau,  Hariiet 118 

Masson,  David 127 

Medical  papers          128 

Methodist  publications    128 

Mill,  J.  S 140 

Misprints 89 

Motith         113 

Monthly  Packet        116 

Morley,  John     64,  122 

Morley,  Samuel        119 

Morning  Advertiser         128 

Morning  Post    37)  129 

Mortimer,  J 127 

Motley's    Dutch    Republic     re- 
fused by  publisher         33 

MulhoUand,  Miss  Rosa    113 

Murra)',  Grenville    141 

Murray,  John     123 

Myra's  Journal         1 25 

Musical  papers          129 

Napier,  Macvey         121 

Nature       129 


Naval  papers  .~  ... 
Newman,  Cardinal   ... 

Nichols,  Dr 

Nineteefith  Century  ... 
Nonconformist 
Notes  and  Queries     . . . 

Observer     

O'Connor,  T.  P.  ... 
O'Donnell,  F.  H.  ... 
Overland  Mail 


•••  135 

29,  116 

...  128 

41,  129 

...  130 

...  133 

...  130 

...  63 

...  63 

...  105 


37, 


Pall  Mall  Gazette     ... 

Parish  Magazine 

Payn,    James,    on    the  literary 


38. 


career     

Penny  Illustrated  Paper 
Personal  journalism 
Phonetic  Journal 
Pict07-ial  World 

Plant,  G.  W 

Poetry,  payment  for 

Portjolio     

Printers     who     have    become 

editors  and  authors 
Procter,  Adelaide  Anne 
Ftiblic  Opinion 
Punch         


Quarterly  Review 

Queen         

Quiver       

Record        

Reeve,  Henry,  C.B. 


130 
116 

54 
132 

93 
132 
132 

135 

42 
132 

26 

17 
132 

132 


41.  133 

...  125 

•■•  133 

...  116 

...  121 


150 


Index. 


Remuneration,      literary,     see 
chapter  on  "  Pounds,  Shillings 

and  Pence" 37 — 52 

Reporting,    special,     20 ;    im- 
personality in,  20 ;  beginning 

a  literary  career  by       24 

Return  of  rejected  MSS.        ...  28 

Reynolds'  Weekly  Newspaper  ...  133 
Robinson    Crusoe,     "declined 

with  thanks  "        31 

Robinson,  J,  R 119 

Rock 116 

Roslyn  Grey      HI,  116 

Ruskin,  began  by  writing  verses 

in  an  obscure  periodical       ...  23 

Russell,  Charles,  Q.C 113 

Russell,  Dr.  W.  H 135 

Sala,  George  A.  iv.,  40, 120, 125,  137 

Saturday  Review      35,  134 

Sawyer,  William      123 

Scott,  Clement 137 

Scott,  Sir  Walter      42 

Scribrur's  Magazine 108 

Service  publications         135 

Sexton,  T 63 

Sharp,  Martin  R US 

Shelley's      poems      not     good 

enough  for  the  Examiner   ...  122 

Smiles,  Samuel,  where  he  began  23 

Smith,  Dr.  William         133 

Smith,  Elder  and  Co 130 

Smith,  G.  Barrett     121 

Social  Notes       135 

Society       135 


Special  correspondents 

Spectator    

Spiritualist  publications 
Sporting  publications 

Standard 

Statist        

Stebbing,  W 

Stephen  Leslie 
Stephens,  H.  P. 
St.  yames^s  Gazette  ... 
St.  James's  Magazine 
Strahan,  Alexander  ... 
Sullivan,  A.  M, 
Sullivan,  T.  D. 
Sunday  at  Home 
Su7iday  Magazine 

Sunday  Times 

Sylvia' s  Home  Journal 

Tablet         

Taylor,  Sir  Henry   ... 

Taylor,  Tom     i 

Temple  Bar       

Tennyson,      21  ;     his 

income 

Thackeray,  his  editorial  experi- 
ences, 19;  his  early  contribu- 
tions "declined  with  thanks," 
31,  55;  on  "Knights  of  the  Pen" 

Theatre      

Thompson,  Alfred 

Time 

Times         

Tinsley's  Magazine 

Townshend,  Marquis       


••     37, 
',      SO, 

yearly 


PAGE 

68 
I3S 
135 
117 
136 
136 

139 
117 
126 

133 
134 
116 

63 
63 
137 
137 
137 

I2S 

43 
133 
137 

42 


95 
137 
132 

139 
137 
139 
135 


Index. 


151 


Training   requisite   for  literaiy 

success  ... 57 

TroUope,  Anthony,  his  first 
attempts,  33  ;  his  literary  in- 
come, 33  ;  on  journalism  as  a 

career     55 

Trtith         139 

Tulloch,  Principal 122 

University  Magazine       139 

Unitarian  papers      139 

Vanity  Fair      \6,o 

Victoria  Magazine    140 

Voules,  Horace        139 

Walford,  E 109,  118 

Walter,  J 137 

Walter  Felham^s  Illustrated   . . . 

Journal 140 


Ward,  Artemus         , 

Ward,  Dr.  W.  G 

Weekly  Budget 

Weekly  Dispatch       

Weekly  Register         

Weekly  Review  

Weekly  Times 

Week'' s  News 

Westminster  Review        

Wh  itehall  Review    

Wilberforce,  H.  W 

Williams,  Charles     

Women,  pathetic  letters  from, 
15 ;  successful  journalists, 
16  ;  as  "  leader  "  writers    ... 

Wood,  Mrs.  Henry 30, 

World       ' 


PAGE 
26 

"3 
140 

140 
114 

140 
140 
140 
140 
140 
114 
122 


118 
109 
141 


Yates,  Edmund  iv,  47,  56,  139,     141 


SECOND    EDITION. 


JOURNALS   AND  JOURNALISM. 

WITH  A  GUIDE  FOR  LITERARY  BEGINNERS. 

By  JOHN  OLDCASTLE, 


"  Is  a  sensible,  well-written  book,  showing  a  real  knowledge  of  the  subject." — Atlunceiim. 

"  Discusses  with  marked  ability  an  interesting  subject.  The  author  writes  as  if  his  experi- 
ence were  wide  ;  his  facts  are  trustworthy,  and  his  remarks  are  sensible  and  unaffected." — 
St.  James  s  Gazette. 

"This  pleasant,- gossippy book  well  deserves  all  the  care  which  the  printers  have  bestowed 
upon  it.  Whether  his  name  be  real  or  assumed,  the  author  is  evidently  qualified  to  speak 
of  the  subject,  and  his  advice  is  as  wise  as  his  assertions  are  truthful."— ^r/w. 

"  To  young  men  anxious  to  enter  the  career,  John  Oldcastle's  book  will  be  a  yery  useful 
one.     It  is  full  of  hints  and  bits  of  advice." — G.  A.  Sala,  in  Ilbistrated  London.  News. 

"The  print,  the  toned  paper,  and  the  binding  will  be  highly  appreciated  by  persons 
addicted  to  bibliomania.    The  whole  of  the  volume  is  pleasant  reading." — Saturday  Review. 

"  John  Oldcastle  instructs  journalistic  aspirants  in  thfe  technicalities  of  contributing  to 
newspapers  and  magazines,  and  enables  them  to  know,  as  folks  say,  'all  about  it.'  He 
gives  'tips'  to  his  young  disciples,  so  that  they  may  avoid,  even  in  the  notes  accompanying 
their  MSS.,  that  appearance  of  greenness  which  the  editorial  eye  is  quick  to  detect.  The 
particulars  about  the  pecuniary  rewards  of  periodical  literature  are  sure  to  prove  attractive 
to  aspirants,  and  the  personal  details  of  editorial  staffs  no  less  welcome." — Daily  Nezvs, 

"  The  author  of  this  practical  little  book  is  evld^nlXy  aufait  with  his  subject  in  all  its 
branches."^ — Daily  Chronicle. 

"  We  can  remember  nothing  of  the  kind  so  capable,  so  unaffected,  so  pleasant  to  read 
from  first  to  last,  as  Mr.  Oldcastle's  little  treatise  of  Journalism  and  its  rewards.  Enthusi- 
astic concerning  literature  as  a  profession,  the  writer  has  no  illusion  respecting  it.  He 
writes  earnestly,  but  frankly  ;  and  his  utterances  are  thoroughly  worthy  of  meditation. 
The  judiciously  written  directory  of  periodicals  will  be  of  great  service  to  the  holders  of 
unnegotiated  '  copy.'  " — Notes  and  Queries. 

"  Journals  and  yournalisiH  is  a  work  which  will  catch  customers  bj'  its  cover,  but  when 
they  have  read  the  book  they  will  be  glad  that  they  were  caught." — Sunday  Times. 

"  Interesting  and  brightly  written,  there  is  what  may  be  called  a  pleasant  literary  flavour 
about  the  book." — Spectator. 


TRICE    3s,     6d.,     POST     FREE     FROM    THE     PUBLISHERS, 

FIELD    &    TUER,    50,    Leadenhall  Street,    E.C 

TilH:  Ll«HAKi 

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Tuer's  "  Luxurious  Bathing,"  with  its 
beautiful  copper-plate  etchings,  quaint 
type,  hand-made,  rough-edged  paper,  and 
oblong  vellum  binding  laced  with  catgut, 
hit  the  public  taste  at  once,  and  ran  into 
four  editions,  in  as  many  weeks. 


A   Sketch 
\D^'/      Andrew  W.   Tuer, 

WITH 

Eight   Etchings   by  Tristram  Ellis. 


5.-. 


(The  Firjl  Edition  was puhliJJied  in  folio  form  with  Etchings  by 
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opinions  of  the  Press. 


*  *  *  *  A  book  of  books  for  those  who  love  and  appreciate  Art.  *  *  *  It  is  written 
in  an  easy,  colloquial  style,  ■>  *  *  jt  may  be  read  \Aith  profit  by  those  who  are  scholars 
and  thinkers,  as  well  as  by  those  who  are,  according  to  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the  term, 
uneducated.  The  writer  may  rob  the  doctor  of  half  his  patients.  *  *  *  One  of  the  most 
enjoyable  volumes  it  has  ever  been  our  good  fortune  to  possess. — Art  Journal. 

There  is  a  touch  of  genius  in  the  treatment  of  this  sli^g^ht  theme  by  Mr.  Tuer.  All  points 
are  so  exquisitely  dealt  with  that  we  marvel  whether  the  author,  the  artist,  the  printer,  or 
the  binder  most  deserves  our  appreciation. — The  Broad  Arrow. 

Its  author,  Mr.  Andrew  W.  Tuer,  modestly  terms  it  "  a  sketch,"  but  in  these  days  of  scurry 
and  scamping,  of  literary  lath  and  plaster,  it  is  only  too  seldom  that  we  get  anything  like 
such  conscientious  and  finished  work,  so  exquisite  in  detail,  so  admirably  consistent 
throughout. —  The  Bazaar. 

The  author  displays  much  practical  knowledge  in  the  handling  of  the  details  of  bathing 
and  swimming,  and  imparts  it  in  a  pleasantly  clear  and  concise  manner. — The  British  Architect, 

A  BOOK  that  is  luxurious  every  way ;  in  binding,  typography  and  literature — The  Publishers 
Circular. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Tuer  may  see  fit  to  issue  an  edition  of  the  work  which  may 
place  it  within  reach  of  the  masses. — Chambers's  Journal, 

A  CURIOSITY  of  literature. — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

Mr.  Tuer's  book  should  encourage  luxurious  bathing. — London  Society. 

People  may  now  "  dread  their  tub  as  little       their  bed." — Daily  News  (leading  article). 

Simply  sumptuous  and  sumptuously  simple  might  be  the  terse  description  of  "  Luxurious 
Bathing — Daily  Telegraph  (special  article). 

Likely  to  become  exceedingly  popular. — Court  Journal. 

A  singularly  happy  specimen  of  all  that  the  printer  and  bookbinder  can  do  to  make  a 
book  handsome. —  Westminster  Review. 


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